War for Ninjago
by cartoonfan9
Summary: AU. King Garmadon dies, and Cyrus Borg takes this opportunity to strike and take the throne as his own. An ancient evil is rising, and the four Chosen Ones must get the rightful king back on the throne, as well as stop the ancient evil with the help of the green ninja. Renamed from King Me. PERIODIC UPDATES, DON'T EXPECT FREQUENT ONES!
1. Locations in Ninjago

**Since it might be confusing to keep up with all the cities/towns/lords in this story, I made this "database" of locations in Ninjago with the lords of each town written next to it for your reference in case you readers get confused. Also the part where I wrote "300 fighters, 400 fighters," etc. is basically how many people they have in their army that can fight.**

 **Central Kingdom**

Ninjago City – Castle of King Garmadon, king of Central Kingdom and highest king; 5500 fighters

 **Northern Kingdom**

Birchwood Forest

Frozen Wasteland

Wailing Alps

Strongwynne – Castle of King Julien, king of Northern Kingdom; 700 fighters

Griffinham – Castle of Lord Elias, ruler of Griffinham; 300 fighters

Snowden – House of Lord Alex, ruler of Snowden; 200 fighters

Umbern – House of Lord Auguste, ruler of Umbern; 200 fighters

Rayhedge – House of Lord Edwardo, ruler of Rayhedge; 200 fighters

 **Eastern Kingdom**

Blackwood Forest

Caves of Despair

Havenhollow – Castle of King Zedwin, king of Eastern Kingdom; 900 fighters

Vertsea – Castle of Lord Huan, ruler of Vertsea; 400 fighters

Ellenry – House of Lord Gordy, ruler of Ellenry; 300 fighters

Erimarsh – House of Lord Milan, ruler of Erimarsh; 200 fighters

Byley – House of Lord Alf, ruler of Byley; 100 fighters

 **Southern Kingdom**

Forest of Tranquility

Fire Temple

Highmont – Castle of King Howard, king of Southern Kingdom; 1000 fighters

Fairwick – Castle of Lord Soren, ruler of Fariwick; 500 fighters

Orland – Castle of Lord Proteus, ruler of Orland; 300 fighters

Ignacia (now a town instead of village) – House of Lord Drakon, ruler of Ignacia; 200 fighters

Ironwood – House of Lord Redlyn, ruler of Ironwood; 200 fighters

 **Western Kingdom**

Wildwood Forest

Mountains of Impossible Height

Floating Ruins

Freyport – Castle of King Robert, king of Western Kingdom; 1100 fighters

Marshlyn – Castle of Lord Bard, ruler of Marshlyn; 400 fighters

Winddell – Castle of Lord Casey, ruler of Winddell; 400 fighters

Oakville – House of Lord Eber, ruler of Oakville; 300 fighters

Buttertown – House of Lord Henrik, ruler of Buttertown; 200 fighters


	2. Daily Routines

**Sorry for the delay, here's my new story! It's probably the longest chapter in this story, so don't get your hopes up. I doubt I can make another chapter that reaches over 3000 words. It's set in a different world with a bunch of new towns and a ton of OCs (most are minor and probably won't have much character development but need to be there for the sake of more plot).**

 **Anyways, I'm just going to say any updates for this story and my other story, A Tale of Destiny won't be coming until at least Tuesday. I have to go to somewhere today and won't be back until then, and I have nothing written for my next chapter in either story, so you can imagine.**

 **Also, I put this story as Adventure/Tragedy. It's not exactly tragic, I also thought it could be Friendship (though I'm not sure exactly what that is) or Hurt/Comfort, but again, I don't know what that is, so I put it as tragedy. They will have some hardships so I guess it makes sense. Later on, if you think I should change it, let me know!**

 **Finally, instead of having blood in this story, I'll just make it like what it would (should?) look like if an actual LEGO figure cracks or something like that. For example, if a character in this story gets their head cut off (which will happen), there will be no blood but it'll be a clean beheading and now you'll have a LEGO figure without a head (but they will die, of course). Or another example, if a character gets stabbed, they'll just have a "crack" where they got stabbed. Again, no blood, but will still rate it T to be safe.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 1: Daily Routines

The morning had been cold but clear, like most days during the season of early spring. Not much grew up here in the North Kingdom during this time. Zane was on his way to see his father who had called him. He walked up to the great big door to enter his father's room. Outside the door were two guards dressed in long, white cloaks with black helmets that didn't cover their faces. They each held a spear up, crossed them and together their spears made an X.

"Greetings, good men," Zane greeted them. "My father is expecting me inside his chambers."

The guards quickly and obediently stepped aside. "Yes, m'lord." they said together, at the same time, in that same voice that made them sound like robots, even though Zane was actually the robot.

They opened the door for him and inside stood two more guards just like the ones that were on the outside that Zane had just spoken to. His father's chambers were lavish, as to be expected of a king, of course. Zane thought his chambers were good until he saw his father's again and the memory of seeing it every time made Zane go through these same thoughts as many times as he visited the king's chambers.

King Julien, Zane's father, was nowhere to be seen in this large room. _Probably in the washroom…_ Zane though patiently. At last, the king came up, but he had not been in the washroom, but rather, his wardrobe.

"Good morning, father," Zane bowed when he saw his father.

King Julien stopped in front of Zane. "You do remember to address me as someone royal when in public, right Zane?"

"Yes, but we are not in public," Zane said warily.

King Julien looked around and saw the two guards posted at his door. "You are right, son."

"What was it that you called me here for?"

"You know, the usual. Listen to any complaints people have and assure them it will all be fine. One of the stableboys, the one with black hair, glasses, and a somewhat weird mouth, fell asleep on the job and let two good horses run away last night. I want you to…interrogate him and why he did that. No violence, of course."

"Anything else?"

"Not that I can think of."

"Then may I take your leave?"

"Sure, sure, go ahead."

As soon as Zane turned around, he sighed. This was his daily life. He was the only prince of the Northern Kingdom, yet he was doing things the king himself or other people should be doing, not him. He was Prince Zane, the second most powerful person in the Northern Kingdom, yet he was being treated like a guard. He deserved better than this, but he also knew why his father made him do such things: it was to prepare him when he becomes King of the North. King Julien was becoming old.

"Oh, Zane?" his father called out as Zane was walking away.

He turned around to face his father again. "Yes, father?"

"Come a bit closer." Zane obeyed and took 10 steps forward. "Good. Now, remember how 20 days ago we sent 40 trained men – one of them was Sir James Westark, known as the best knight in the Northern Kingdom – into the Birchwood Forest?"

Zane nodded.

"Well, for what they were doing, they should have returned four or five days ago, but I waited, thinking they may have run into a bit of trouble with the treehorns, but they have not returned."

"So what you're saying is you're afraid that they might…be dead?" Zane gulped.

His father nodded. "They could not have taken so long to do…their task."

"What was their task?" Zane asked softly. His father had always referred to the reason why those 40 men went to the Birchwood Forest as "the task". He never told his own son what the task was.

King Julien sighed. "I guess it is about time you found out what they are…or at least _were_ up to. I sent them to the Birchwood Forest to kill the queen of the treehorns, monsters that look like trees and have long 'necks' that can walk. I do not know if you know this, but, they have been causing some trouble in villages and even Lord August, lord of Umbern, complained to me about treehorns occasionally attacking his town."

"Can Lord Auguste not defend his own town with his own army?"

King Julien shook his head. "Would if he could, but he only has around 200 trained fighters and he fears they may not be enough against the treehorns. The other northern lords and I came up with the plan to send men to kill the queen. If the queen is dead, they will no longer bother us."

"Or would these treehorns get angry and want revenge?"

His father thought for a moment. "You are right, Zane, but we must try."

"So, father, you want me and some other men to hunt down the queen and kill it?"

King Julien laughed. "No, no, I would never try endangering you like that. I simply want you to pick the men to go there, not be one of them."

"As you wish." Zane bowed and left the room.

* * *

Elsewhere in Ninjago, in Ignacia, the sound of metal clanking against metal was heard. Blacksmith Kai Smith was up early in the morning with his sister, Nya, both forging a sword. A metal hammer-like object was being hammered against a sword that was still in the makings. King Howard, ruler of the Southern Kingdom, had warned the two siblings nearly a month ago that visitors from the Eastern Kingdom were coming to the South and would also be looking for weapons armour.

"Ugh, I wish father were here to help us out…" Nya muttered.

"Hoping for dad to come back isn't going to make him come back, Nya," Kai told her.

"Yeah, but it would make this work so much easier. King Howard didn't even tell us how many 'visitors' were coming from the east."

"The king probably doesn't even know. That's probably why he couldn't tell us."

"Well, I guess I'll stop complaining and continue working," Nya said.

"Good." Kai replied flatly while he cooled the sword.

After many minutes of silence and making a few more swords, Nya stopped. "Shouldn't we use a different metal, Kai? I mean we've always been using iron. What's wrong with using steel or something?"

Kai sighed. "Look, Nya, steel is expensive, and we don't have that kind of money. Iron's the best we got and I doubt the king would give us money for this, even though The Four Weapons Shop is his personal favourite blacksmith shop in all of the Southern Kingdom."

"Well d'ya think you could get some help from some of your blacksmithing friends elsewhere?"

"We're the only blacksmiths in Ignacia, there's two in Orland, one of which George Adams, who is considered King Howard's second in-command goes to. He's also a good friend of mine, has lots o' money and uses different metals. I may be able to get something from him."

"Doesn't that blacksmith often say he owes you or something?"

"He says that to practically everyone that gives him _anything_."

"Oh, well, no harm in trying, right?" Nya smiled.

"I guess not. I'll write a letter and when a messenger comes around here I'll tell them to deliver it to Sultan Braudel, the blacksmith in Orland."

"You mean _if_ a messenger comes here, right?" Nya teased.

"Yeah, sure," Kai grumbled and he went to get ink, a feather pen, and paper.

Kai began to write any words that would make him sound like he gave a nice greeting, introduction, and reminder of who he is. Then he got to the point with how he and Nya needed some money to use a new metal. He didn't add the part of how they could use the money for new metal to make their weaponry and armour look better. That would definitely make more customers come, and a lot of the army men of Lord Drakon, ruler of Ignacia go to other towns like Orland and even Highmont which supposedly has the best blacksmiths in the Southern Kingdom and perhaps even Ninjago because the king's castle is there. Kai always snorts at those comments. It's not like King Howard's presence in Highmont make the blacksmiths there the best in Ninjago. Ever since Kai's father died, he always had the dream of becoming a better blacksmith than his father ever was to prove the fools wrong, the fools who say his shop is bad.

 _Sincerely, Kai Smith_

Kai finished the letter and rolled it up and kept it in a safe shelf.

"You know, now that I think about it," Nya told her brother, "you could've just went to Orland and told Sultan personally. It'll seem better."

Kai groaned. "You know how far that is? It'll take days to reach there with a carriage and two or three horses. And by days I mean maybe a week if weather lets us."

"Well, you'd also get to meet King Howard on the way, I suppose. Highmont is on the way if I recall."

Kai thought to himself. "Well you recall right because the king's castle is right on the way. Hm, I never thought of that. Well, I guess we can leave the day after tomorrow."

"Why?" Nya asked.

"We need time to prepare and get the horses and carriage and stuff." Then Kai raised an eyebrow. "You are coming, right?"

"Of course! I'm not going to stay here by myself!"

"Good. Then I guess it's set. We'll prepare tonight and tomorrow, and we'll leave day after tomorrow. Hopefully weather is good."

"It will be. I'm sure of it."

"Cool, now let's get back to forging swords and armour."

* * *

Sir Jay Walker was frustrated. In his morning teaching session to teach a bunch of kids and teens how to use a sword, three of the younger kids got angry and ganged up on an older one when they were taunted. Then more kids of all ages joined on random sides and before he knew it the entire class was up and about, hacking and slashing and shoving other people around. It quickly turned from a team fight to every man for himself, and that's when it became sour when the initial older kid got whacked by one of those wooden swords and got a bruised cheek and nose. Then apparently it was all Jay's fault that he even let the fight happen in the first place, according to Sir Julian Carter, a knight higher than him. All Sir Jay hoped for was some peace and quiet and perhaps a good afternoon teaching session.

Now that he thought of it, his afternoon class _was_ more calm than his morning one, but it was harder to teach the afternoon one simply because they were all 14 or under, whereas his morning class has some 15 or 16 year olds, and even a 17 year old.

"Sir Jay, would you like some water?" his squire, a boy of 15 named Walder Louis asked him.

"Yes, please and thanks," Sir Jay replied. Walder ran off to get a bottle of water while Sir Jay sat down on the watcher's bench, the bench where anybody that would like to watch the sword practicing would sit, with his head buried in his hands.

 _These kids will make me lose my knighthood that I just got…_ Sir Jay thought sadly.

"Sir Jay," a firm but gruff voice called out. Sir Jay looked up and saw Sir Julian walking towards him, a man of justice and righteousness, which Jay found odd enough when he was being accused of starting this morning's fight. Sir Julian was the same height as Sir Jay, with black messy hair, eyebrows that made him look like he was always angry, and dark brown eyes. He wore his usual dull grey coat of mail, as he always did around the castle, but when it came to something important like stopping a raid, he would wear shining silver armour plate, like most others. Sir Julian never wears a helm because it "hinders his sight".

"Yes, Sir?" Jay was now standing up.

"I saw the fight that took place. Why did you do nothing to stop it?" Sir Julian pointed a finger at him.

This was Sir Julian. Quick, gruff, and always to the point. _He'd make a fine warrior,_ Sir Jay mused to himself. "Er, well, Sir Julian, I had appointed the three kids to go up against the older one, because the older one was asking for a challenge, and he decided 3 against 1 by himself. I picked the three, but when they could barely even scratch the older kid, he started taunting them and they got angry. Then that's where the fight started."

"But you still did not answer my question," he said in a dangerously calm voice. True, Sir Julian had never beaten anyone up (or so he claims), but Sir Jay was sure he wouldn't mind doing so right now. "Why did not you stop the fight?"

Sir Jay pretended to look surprised. "But, Sir, I hardly even knew I had a fight at my hands. I found out once all the other kids joined in too, and when I went to go stop them, they all kept pushing and shoving each other around, me included. Finally when the first old kid asked for a challenge got bruised, he managed to drag himself out and I ended it."

"So all that time before the kid got bruised and after you were pushed around, you just stood there and enjoyed the weather?" Sir Julian's voice rose.

Jay looked almost amused. "No, no, I kept trying to stop the fight, but as I said, I was being pushed around."

Sir Julian snorted. "Pushed around by a bunch of kids. You're a _knight,_ Sir Jay, not one of those kids. You may be young still, but that does not make you weak enough to be pushed around by them."

"They are a violent and energetic bunch, Sir Julian. They are much more violent than those who I trained with years ago."

Sir Julian turned around, hands behind his back. "Fine. Just make sure it doesn't happen again, else…" Sir Julian sternly left the threat in the air, though Jay had an idea what it could mean.

* * *

Deep in the Blackwood Forest, the sound of axes hitting trees, trees falling, and leaves rustling could be heard. There were also many shouts and grunts as people tried lifting the logs that were made of trees onto the truck to take it away. This space was supposedly going to be used for mining, as King Zedwin, king of the Eastern Kingdom, recently discovered there were precious metals under this part of the forest.

"Hey Cole!" a man named Roger Bowden shouted out to a man named Cole.

"What's up?" Cole asked casually. Roger didn't know it, but Cole didn't know who he was. In fact, Cole didn't anyone around here.

"Um, well, I was just wondering…" Roger stammered. He knew Cole was an extremely strong person and was also known for a bit of a temper, so he had to choose his words carefully. He didn't want to make him mad.

"Wondering?" Cole furrowed his eyebrows a bit. "You can wonder somewhere else." Cole turned his back to him and began using his axe to chop down another tree.

"No, I didn't finish!" Roger put up his hands. He acted quite like a kid.

"Then you have the right to finish." Cole replied gruffly.

"I was just wondering, that…I've asked everyone around here why they became a lumberjack and what they were doing before, so I wanted to ask the same to you." Roger smiled a half-smile.

Cole stopped chopping the tree. He turned around and raised an eyebrow. "Why d'ya wanna know that?"

Roger shrugged his shoulders and held up his hands. "I'm just curious. Everyone's told me so far, some with hesitation, but they eventually told me. Just wanna do the same for you."

Cole sighed. "It's none o' your business. Just get back to work."

"But-"

"But nothing," Cole spat. He turned around and continued his work. Cole was very aware of Roger walking away to his assigned spot. Cole wanted to forget his past, but that Roger guy made him remember it. He still had very fresh memories of harshly asking people, rich, poor, and middle-class alike for money for… _them._ Always dressed in black, mask over his face to hide his identity, and all his rough n' tough boys dressed the same as him. He was the leader. They were all built, so barely anyone ever dared to stand up to them. One time, they had entire families come running at them, kids included, but they all ended up with the same fate as the rest of the lot: tortured and ransomed. Cole was a cruel person, and he didn't want anyone he was working with to know that, at least not from his past. If he showed firsthand, that'd be kind of alright, but from memories…no.

Then came the day when Cole decided to leave that hell he called life. He quit being the leader of his little kidnapping crew, and he got lots of taunts, insults, and beatings for doing so. But it was worth it. To get out of that hell, always being feared and hated…that was not a life. He didn't particularly enjoy being a lumberjack either, but he had no better choice. Out here, nobody cares who you are or what you were…except for Roger, that is. The managers of this lumberjack company didn't even bother asking what his previous job was, if any. They saw that he looked strong so they took him. He _looked_ like the right guy for the job, but was his personality right? It seemed they didn't care for personality. Get the job done, they get their money and he gets his. That's what Cole liked about this job. Before, he was always on the run with his gang. Now, he was changed. He could finally live a happier life.

* * *

 **You get some insight on their daily routines and stuff. Cole's personality is pretty much completely changed here. Jay is more mature (of course, he has to, he's a knight!). Kai is pretty similar, and so is Zane, always being obedient and all. The reason why Kai, Cole, and Nya talk a bit weird (with the "o'" or "d'ya") is because they are not properly educated (if at all) so they talk like that.**

 **Anyways, hope you liked it. I found it a bit funny in Jay and Cole's parts.**


	3. Poison Hurts

**Phew, I worked my butt of writing this, so you better like it! :P Focuses mostly on Kai and Nya, as well as Misako. Sorry, _Queen_ Misako. Gave POVs for Kai and Misako.**

 **Also why are people following my Tournament of Elements story now? It's finished, lol.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 2: Poison Hurts

The next morning, Kai and Nya went right to work on packing their things for their trip to Orland to visit their blacksmith friend, Sultan Braudel. They hadn't been able to prepare much last night due to an unexpected amount of visitors, one of them being Sir Gary Rose, the best knight in Ignacia who needed some fixing on his armour after sparring with many squires. Ultimately, the damage had been done and quite a lot of it, so he decided to buy new armour. The rest of them were various men, even a squire, who needed things like a sword, a shield, a helm, or armour.

"Hey, Nya, I'm going to get horses and a wagon, alright?" Kai called out to his younger sister.

She came out from the back of the store, dusting off her clothes. "Yeah, okay. I'll get the cooler ready with lots of water and any food that needs to stay cold."

Kai nodded. "Hopefully I'll be back before it's time for lunch."

Kai went out with a small bag of money, just enough for two horses and a carriage. Luckily, they could stock up at King Howard's castle, as it was only a day's ride away. If they could leave today, it would be a lot better.

Kai went to the man who owned the town stable, the place people buy or sell horses. He was a nice old man who would often haggle if needed.

"Hello, mister," Kai greeted him. "I'd like to buy two horses."

The old man said something Kai could not make out. "Well, I'll show ya around." It seemed the man was chewing something, most likely gum. It was quite boring work, sitting around doing nothing all day and waiting for a customer.

"This one here," he said, showing Kai a white stallion, "is three years old. Quite the strong one, and tame. Belonged to a knight until he died." The man showed Kai some more horses, and Kai settled for the first one he had been shown, the white stallion, and a dark brown mare for Nya.

"How much for both?" Kai asked.

The old man chewed his gum and thought for a bit before giving Kai a response. He eyed the small bag of money Kai had in his pocket. "250 gold for both," he finally said.

Kai thought for a moment. He had around 500 gold with him, though he wasn't sure as he hadn't fully counted, but just estimated. A carriage alone would cost another 300 or so. "Can't you do a bit less? 200?" Kai pleaded.

"220, final price," the old man told him. His tone was firm and made it clear there would be no more bargaining.

"Fine," Kai sighed. He fished out exactly 22 coins, each worth 10 gold. He handed them to the man. "Thank you." Kai bowed to the man to show respect, then walked off with the horses. Next, he had to find a carriage, and there was only one place in all of Ignacia that sold any sort of vehicles.

Kai walked to the outdoor store. He had only been here once or twice before, but never alone like he was right now. His father had told him the owner of this store was some cranky old woman who always had a fixed mind and would never change a price after she gave it. Kai hoped he could find a decent carriage for around 300 gold, else he would have to go back and get more money. Kai looked around and saw a junkyard's worth of space taken up by new bikes, worn-out bikes, advanced motor bikes (only for the rich, of course, of which there were very few in Ignacia), carts, carriages, wagons, and even a few rowboats and fishing boats. Kai saw a four wheel carriage with various designs scribbled across. He looked at the price tag: 500 gold. It made sense, however; it had designs, enough space for two people and the things the people may take with them. He saw a wagon, pretty small but most likely enough to hold everything they needed plus themselves, but it was for 330.

Finally, Kai saw the perfect carriage. It didn't look like it was for royal people or anything, it had nothing fancy either. Just four wheels with a bit of a "hood" to have over their heads and enough space for everything they were going to bring. Only problem was it cost 300 gold, just 20 more than what he had. He hoped this lady would bargain with him; it was the perfect carriage for them.

Kai heard footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw the owner, the lady. "Well, d'ya want the carriage or no? Haven't got all day to keep the store open just for you to keep lookin' around." she told him.

"Hello, ma'am," Kai nervously greeted her. "And yes, I would like to buy this carriage. Only problem is…I'm 20 gold short."

She snorted. "20 gold short? Then you ain't going to be buying this one. Allow me to show you another one." She pointed down three carriages and showed one that was pretty much the same as the one Kai was planning on buying, just without the hood part. It cost 240 gold.

"Well, you see," Kai stammered. She was quite intimidating. "We need the hood part of the carriage, too."

She raised an eyebrow. "We? Who's going, your wife?"

"No, it's my sister and I. We're heading to Highmont to meet the king." Kai left out the part he was also going to Orland to ask his blacksmith friend if he could get some new metal from him.

She looked taken aback. Then she stroked her chin, as if she had a beard. "Oh, I see. You're that blacksmith boy, the king's favourite blacksmith. Well, fine. I'll take that 280 gold or whatever you have left with you right now, just because you're a friend of the king and you can take this carriage with you."

"Thank you, ma'am," Kai replied. He handed her the bag, and she quickly counted it. Turns out, he had exactly 28 gold coins, which meant 280 gold. She nodded and Kai took the carriage with him.

At the shop, Kai found Nya bargaining with a customer. In fact, there were two customers, both men.

"Nya, who are these two?" Kai asked.

One of them looked over at him and smiled. "Ah, is this the famous blacksmith King Howard was talking about?"

" _Famous blacksmith"?_ Kai wondered.

"These are two of the visitors from the East King Howard was talking about," Nya interrupted his thoughts and broke into a grin.

"Oh, well what do you two need?" Kai asked.

"I'm looking for a new sword," the one that had told Kai about being a famous blacksmith said. "But I'm not finding anything I'm liking here."

"Well," Kai said as he put his finger to his chin. "There is one sword I made yesterday, and I think you may like it." Kai walked to the back of the store and brought back another sword. "This sword was made just yesterday, made of a pure iron blade, leproyan wood hilt straight from the Leproy Mines, and smooth leather wrapped around it for better grip." Kai grinned. "It's pretty light so you can move it fast, but heavy enough to not feel like a toothpick, and as sharp as any other. I think you should try it."

The man graciously took it, and did a few stabs and jabs and just moving it around to see how it felt. "This sword is very well made. It will be my honour to take it." He fished around in his pocket before realizing he didn't know the price. "How much will this cost?"

"720 gold," Kai replied. "It costs a lot of money to get much of anything from the Leproy Mines, so I hope you understand."

"I completely do," the man replied and gave many coins to Kai. Kai counted and found it was exactly 720. "By the way, I am Benjamin Arrana," the man told him.

"And I'm Paul Lowman," the other man said.

"What do you need?" Nya asked him.

"Oh, I just came to accompany him," Paul smiled and nodded at Benjamin. Paul was a big man, with his shield in his left hand and sword at the waist.

"Does your shield need repairing or anything?" Kai asked Paul.

"No, but thank you. We'll be on our way."

"Alright, it was nice meeting you!" Nya told them happily.

"Pleasure to meet you as well," Benjamin said. He waved and the two men walked off.

"Alright, so now that that's done, did you get the horses and carriage?" Nya asked her older brother.

"Yeah, I did. Cost me all the gold I took with me, but it was worth it. Is everything ready?"

Nya nodded. "Everything's done. Luckily, I managed to finish just before those two men came."

"Alright, let's load it in and get going. We can restock at King Howard's castle."

Kai and Nya loaded everything into their carriage and left. "We'll need to head up north and take this road all the way up," Kai explained as they went up the path that runs straight through Ignacia. "Then from Highmont we take the Forest Trail which leads us through days of forest, but it's the only way to Orland."

The two siblings ate a good lunch, and then an early dinner and continued. They had no trouble, and the sun was shining. At around 10 at night, they stopped and went to sleep in the carriage. They woke up the next morning, ate a breakfast, ate another lunch, and reached Highmont at around 2 in the afternoon.

When Kai and Nya reached Highmont, they knew something was wrong. There were only a few people out, when normally there would be plenty of people, guards and townspeople alike. There were very few people in the streets, so the siblings went to the castle right away and saw many guards standing on the outside at the main entrance.

"What happened? Why is there nobody in the city?" Kai asked one of the guards as he came up to them.

"The king…" one of the guards replied.

"What king? What happened?" Nya asked, wide-eyed.

"King Garmadon died." the other guard finished.

* * *

A few hours before Kai and Nya reached Highmont…

"My Queen, it is lunch time," Queen Misako's maid, Emily Rosanna, told her. "The king is calling for you to come and eat lunch."

"Thank you, Emily," Queen Misako graciously told the young girl. Misako got up and dusted off her dress. Misako had been in the garden, on her knees picking flowers as she had enjoyed when she was younger. Her husband, King Garmadon, had often scolded her after their marriage for getting dirty by being in the garden.

Emily led the queen to dining room, a large room lit by torches on the walls and candles on the table. There was a feast prepared there, like every lunch and dinner they ever had. Soup and salad as an appetizer; roasted turkey, bread and butter, and slices of cheese for main course; cream filled croissants and apples for dessert. It was often a similar menu for lunch, but for dinner sometimes the cooks would get creative.

"I am happy you joined us, Misako," Garmadon told her.

Misako smiled, but did not answer: she had nothing to answer with. Instead, she asked "Where is our Prince Lloyd?"

"Right here, mom," a voice said from behind her.

Misako turned around and saw her blond haired son. "Lloyd."

Lloyd looked around. "Where's uncle Wu?" he asked.

"He'll be here shortly." his father dismissed the question.

"I think he was meditating," Misako told her son.

"Butler, can you get us our water please?" King Garmadon asked a butler standing nearby.

"As you wish, my lord," he replied and went to get the water.

"Hello, my family," a voice called out from behind them. Wu entered from the door and came with a bit of a guilty looking face, but nobody thought much of it.

"I'm glad you could join us, brother," Garmadon told his younger brother. "Normally, you eat alone in your own chambers."

"Yes, well, I decided to eat here today. There is nothing wrong with eating here, anyway. And there's more food."

Garmadon rolled his eyes while Misako and Lloyd chuckled. He may not look it, but Wu loves to eat good foods.

The butler brought the water and handed out the glasses to each of the four family members. King Garmadon gulped down the entire glass. A few seconds later, he began coughing.

"What's wrong, dad?" Lloyd asked after his dad coughed a few times.

"N-nothing, my son. Just begin eating." he replied. He coughed more and began to claw at his throat.

"What's happening to my husband?" Misako cried.

"Brother! Are you okay?" Wu was alarmed too.

Garmadon ripped open the collar at his throat like he was choking because of it. His face turned a light shade of blue.

"He's choking!" someone called out.

"Hey! Butler! What did you do to my dad?" Lloyd roared at the butler. The poor man was now very aware of several pairs of eyes looking at him.

"Are you trying to murder your own king?" Misako nearly screamed at him.

Garmadon's face began turning even more blue. "Well, don't just stand there! Take him to the healers!" Wu commanded. The healers weren't very far. Two men lifted the king up and ran to the healers as fast as they could.

"Healers! It's an emergency!" Misako shouted with tears in her eyes.

"The king is choking!" one of the men who carried King Garmadon to the healers shouted. They set him down on an empty cot. Three healers immediately ran over and saw their king, blue face and still clawing at his throat.

"He has poison in his body," one of the healers told them.

"But how could nobody know?!" Wu said.

"The poison must've been colourless, odourless, and most of all, deadly," another healer said.

"He is beyond hope," the third one finished.

"So this poison must've acted almost immediately! And it's impossible to know it was there in the first place…" Wu trailed off with tears in his eyes.

"The water!" one of the men shouted all of a sudden. "The poison must've been in the water he drank!"

Misako, Lloyd, and Wu began crying even harder. "There's no way we can help?" Lloyd asked tearfully.

The healers all shook their heads. Garmadon's body on the cot went limp. Then his three family members all cried harder.

King Garmadon had died.

* * *

 **Murderer on the loose! Who do you think poisoned King Garmadon? Could it be that poor butler Lloyd and Misako yelled at, or someone else, like another high person, a guard, or someone who hates him? Anyways, I don't know when you'll find out who did it. It's definitely after Cyrus strikes and takes the throne, and that will happen soon enough. (Few chapters, I guess.) And then a bit after that.**

 **Also, you haven't seen the last of Benjamin and Paul! They will be back!**

 **Oh and for all you Kai lovers out there, Kai's part will be on hold for the next few chapters.**


	4. Being King is Hard

**I like this chapter. It was fun to write. But I don't have anything else to say except this: enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 3: Being King is Hard

"King Garmadon died?" Nya asked the guard in shock.

"Yes," the guard replied. "Rather, he was killed by someone."

"How? And who?" Kai inquired.

"Nobody knows who, but it seems he drank water, but there was poison in it. Colourless, odourless, impossible to tell it was in there in the first place. Poison worked quickly and he died, I heard."

The two siblings were speechless. They gulped and bowed. "Thank you," Kai told them. "But what does the king dying have to do with the city being deserted?"

"I'm not sure myself, boy," the first guard replied. "Now, what's your business here?" He pointed a spear at them.

"King Howard knows us," Kai answered coolly. "I'm his favourite blacksmith, Kai Smith, the one he always goes to for his weapons and armour."

The guard lowered his spear, though he still looked intimidating. "But what is your business here? You didn't answer that."

"We're just here to visit him," Nya told him. "But if it's not the right time, then I guess we'll be on our way…" She began to turn around, but the second guard stopped her.

"No, it's okay. You two can enter," he said.

The two guards moved out of the way while Kai and Nya walked in. They saw servants and maids quickly walk past them, hushed and unwilling to talk. Some had tears in their eyes, but most were neutral, probably because they didn't really care about King Garmadon's death, but they dared not say that aloud.

Kai and Nya walked past many large rooms; many rooms for people who lived there; the closer to the King's room, the higher they were in status. The rooms they were passing right now probably belonged to some of the more well-known servants as well as any friends King Howard has and would like for them to stay in the castle. They passed a praying room, which was filled with people, highly likely for their regards to King Garmadon.

"Halt! What do you have here?" a guard with a deep voice asked them. Kai and Nya were so busy looking around that they didn't notice they had reached the throne room. Kai and Nya looked toward the voice and saw a friend of theirs: Joa Owen, a 29 year-old guard; their favourite in all of Highmont.

"Joa!" Nya exclaimed happily because she saw a familiar face.

Joa's eyebrows shot up, as they saw through his visor. "Well, if it isn't Kai and Nya Smith!" he boomed. "What brings you two here today? Paying your respects to the old King Garmadon?"

Kai shook his head. "We had no idea King Garmadon had died until two of the guards told us outside. Said he was poisoned."

Joa nodded. "That's what I heard too. Anyways, what brings you here?"

"We were going to Orland, but Nya reminded me Highmont comes on the way. We decided we'll stop by at Highmont and visit King Howard."

Joa looked surprised. "King Howard seems like he's in a good mood, surprisingly. He probably will see his favourite blacksmith, but I don't know when. He's going to the funeral, though."

"Oh." Of course there was a funeral for such a well-known man. "When is it?"

"Don't know when the funeral is, but King Howard is going. Says he's leaving at dawn."

"That means we'll only get to meet him within the next few hours!" Nya cried.

Joa smiled. "Don't worry, I'm sure he can make time for you two." He dropped his smile. "But don't take my word on it." He laughed instead, and Kai and Nya did too, having the memory when Joa said the same thing a year ago, but they ended up returning to Ignacia without even seeing the king's face.

"All hail King Howard!" a voice shouted from inside the doors.

Joa looked calm. "It seems King Howard is coming out. Please, step aside."

Joa and the other guards near him stepped aside, and Kai and Nya followed suit. "Is this what happens every time King Howard wants to go out of the throne room?" Nya asked Joa. The man nodded.

The doors flew open, and the king stepped out. His second in-command, George Adams, stood behind him at his left, and Donnel Faust, an old yet very skilled and loyal man stood beside George. Knights and other important men flanked the king, George, and Donnel on all sides.

Out of the corner of his eye, King Howard noticed Kai and Nya. He turned and nodded to them, and mouthed the words: "We'll talk in a bit". Kai and Nya had no clue when "in a bit" was, but they assumed somebody would come and notify them that the king wants to talk to them.

King Howard was heading to his own room, which wasn't very far from the throne room. After he was out of sight, Kai and Nya decided to ask Joa what the king might have meant.

"If King Howard said he'll meet you in a bit, I'm sure he will. He's a man to never go back on his word. Somebody will come and get you."

Sure enough, a servant walked up to them nervously. "Kai and Nya Smith?" he asked.

Both siblings nodded. "Come. The King would like to talk to both of you."

The servant led them to the king's room without a word. The guards that stood at the door opened it after the servant told them of the two siblings' business there.

"Go on. The King will see you." the servant informed them.

They walked in and saw King Howard sitting on a painted wooden chair with what seemed like a leather cushion. The King had taken off his crown and set it aside on a small table. He was wearing the black silk cloak passed down in his family, and a red surcoat probably made of wool. He had fairly long brown hair, and a trimmed goatee.

The room was very impressive. The Smith siblings had never been in his room before. Its ceiling soared, being at least 15 feet tall, with paintings of ancient images that described the history of Ninjago, and the fight against the Overlord. It also showed a painting of the First Spinjitzu Master, who died 50 years ago and passed the throne to his older son, Garmadon. Small lamps hung from the walls, but most of the light came from the sunlight. The two windows were huge, being 8 feet tall and possibly 5 feet long, which definitely allowed lots of sunlight to enter. Finally, there were lots of tables and chairs scattered around the room. The entire room itself was probably bigger than their Four Weapons Shop back in Ignacia, according to Kai.

"Well, well, what brings my two favourite blacksmiths here today?" King Howard asked with a big smile, happy to see them after a while.

"We were going to Orland, but we decided to visit you since it's on the way," Nya explained in the simplest way possible.

"I see. Anyways, come, sit. You don't have stand around while I get all the luxury."

Kai took a seat on the nearest chair, and so did Nya. There were so many chairs, they could probably host a small dinner in the room, as opposed to the regular feast they have every dinner with around 50 people.

"There is lots to talk about, Kai and Nya," the King told them. "But first, would you like anything? Water? Tea? Wine? I'm sure King Garmadon would've loved to have drank wine instead of water if he knew there was poison in it, but alas, Prince Wu and Queen Misako always held him back. Anyways, what do you want?"

"Water is fine," Nya answered. Kai nodded.

"Very well. I do need a drink of water as well." He beckoned the servant that had brought Kai and Nya to his room, and told him to get three glasses of water.

After the servant was gone, King Howard showed how he truly felt. He sighed sadly and miserably. "Things are quite chaotic now. Crime rates and corruption have gone up, and it's harder now to indicate where it's coming from. I'll have to go attend King Garmadon's funeral, bless him, and have to keep the castle in order with whoever I choose to do it. George Adams is a trusty man, but he will not allow himself to stay here. Donnel Faust is a trusty man as well, but people laugh and make fun of him about his age, although half the people that do that don't know his skills with a sword, and the other half knows he doesn't care."

Kai and Nya had nothing to say, so King Howard continued. "Then there's George Adams continuously urging me during council meetings to send out a raid party to put an end to the bandits attacking smaller, defenseless towns and villages, although most of my other council members disagree with him. Goodness knows George will not volunteer himself to go on any of these raids. And the complaints!" He sighed exasperatedly. "There are dozens of complaints for me everyday, right here in the Southern Kingdom! I would understand if there were that many in the Central Kingdom, as that place is crawling with people, but here! People complain that they lost a cow or something…like come on! Do you think I have time to look for one cow?" He continued without waiting for a response. "No! Of course I don't! Tell your cow to not trust strangers like all the mothers say to their children!" He sighed. "Sorry, I know you don't care about this and I got carried away. Anyways, did you get any visitors from the Eastern Kingdom like I told you?"

Kai nodded, finally having something he could talk about. "Yes, we got one man, perhaps more but I'm not sure if they were Easterners."

"My Lord, when are you leaving for the funeral?" Nya asked.

"Please, no need for such formality. I get tired of the 'My Lord's' or 'My King's' it gets annoying," King Howard sighed. "And then when I get angry at them, the get frightened." When he noticed the look on Kai and Nya's face, he knew he should stop. "Ah, sorry, I get off-track quite easily. To answer your question, Nya, I'm leaving at dawn. The funeral will not start until all four Kings are there, and Ninjago City is many days away." He paused. "Would you like to come too?"

Nya looked puzzled. "Thanks for the offer, My Lord-"

"King Howard," the King corrected.

"…but we need to reach Orland as soon as possible."

"Ah, I see. Orland is not on the way to Ninjago City, or vice-versa, so you will have to go your own way."

Kai stood up. "Thanks for your time, King Howard, but I think we should get going. We have many days' ride to get to Orland."

King Howard also got up. "I understand. If there's anything you need, let me know."

"Oh right, about that…" Kai began.

"We need supplies for our trip," Nya finished.

"Food and drink, I'm guessing?"

Kai and Nya both nodded. "Could we get some from the kitchen?" the brother asked.

"Yes, go ahead. Tell them their king has let you take what you need."

"Okay. Thank you, King Howard, and I hope we meet again soon!" Nya told him happily.

"Yes, and it was nice seeing you both again," he replied.

* * *

News of King Garmadon's death spread like wildfire…

In the Northern Kingdom, King Julien furiously paced his room.

"Father, please, calm down," his son tried to tell him, but the King would have none of it.

"How dare somebody do such an outrageous thing!" King Julien roared. "I say the new king, King Lloyd, should find the killer as soon as possible and give him a public beheading!"

"Yes, I agree too," Zane said desperately, "but the killer has not yet been found."

"Which is why he must be found!" Clearly, King Julien and King Garmadon were good friends…

"I'm sure King Lloyd will find the poisoner as soon as he can, but for now _we_ have to be there for the funeral."

That stopped King Julien's pacing. "Perhaps you're right, son," he said quietly. "We need to start preparing."

Prince Zane looked relieved. _But what about the men I have to send to the Birchwood Forest?_ he thought.

"Those men can wait," King Julien said.

"H-how did you-"

"Know that you were thinking about that?" he finished. "Zane, always remember that I built you, so I know how you think."

Zane smiled, and so did his father.

"Come on, we have to start preparing for our long journey south…" King Julien said. He barked commands to his servants and they scrambled to get the things they were asked to get.

* * *

 **Funeral in next chapter (told from Sir Jay's POV) and perhaps some random stuff with Cole still in the Eastern Kingdom, in the Blackwood Forest, still being a lumberjack.**

 **Cyrus will also come soon enough if you're waiting for his usurping of the throne.**

 **Anyways, too much information. Hope you liked it!**


	5. The Funeral

**Alright I worked my butt off for this chapter too. I like it, so I'm happy, and I hope you readers find it the same. Finally we get some action here, and (a) death(s) I doubt any of you would actually are about (minor character). I also discovered I like writing in Jay and Cole POVs; they're pretty fun and much more interesting than Zane.**

 **Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 4: The Funeral

Sir Jay hated it. He hated every moment of walking through forests, swamps, and other mushy places. Fortunately, he was on a horse. Unfortunately, the horse decided to go graze through a swamp at top speed, causing Jay to fall. It did that twice. Fortunately, the rain didn't bother them that much. Unfortunately, when it did, they were in open land with absolutely no place to go to be dry. Why, oh why, did he have to be dragged along on this awful journey? He wasn't even that good of a knight, compared to Sir Julian Carter, for example.

They had stopped at two inns on the way, one of which Sir Jay got to sleep inside it; the other one, he had to sleep outside, on the dirt, because it didn't have enough space for one more person, or else everyone would kill to sleep inside the inn, though if there were so many insects outside, they wondered how many would creeping and crawling their way around the inside of the inn.

The good news? They arrived at the castle of the former King Garmadon after many long and dreadful days. They were also the last ones there, which meant the funeral would start shortly after. The bad news? He was forced to stand next to Sir Julian, who had a nasty cold that involved coughing, sneezing, and sniffling every 10 seconds. Sir Jay would kiss the castle if it hadn't been so old and dusty.

At last, the funeral started. Sir Jay only saw a few faces with tears. Most people were either sad or expressionless, as if they didn't care their (main) king had died.

If he listened closely (which took A LOT of focus with Sir Julian's cold bugging him), he could hear some crying, most likely from the King's family which consisted of the widowed Queen Misako, Prince Lloyd (who has yet to have his coronation), and Prince Wu, Garmadon's brother. The priest, some old person Sir Jay did not know, was saying some things he couldn't hear thanks to Sir Julian, but also, Jay didn't really care what the priest was saying.

Finally the priest stopped saying things, and they put King Garmadon's body in the coffin at last, but not without Queen Misako crying even harder, and trying to make her husband come back to life by simply talking to him, blah blah blah. Sir Jay had (sadly) been to many funerals in the past, and they all did the same thing, with the husband or wife of the person who died crying and telling the dead person to come back to life…it gets more annoying everytime he sees it. Luckily, he couldn't see it this time because a lot of people were in front of him.

Suddenly, up a tall hill a few hundred meters away, horns and trumpets blared. Everyone turned to look at where the noise was coming from, and they saw hundreds – no, thousands – of people wearing battle armour and weapons marching down the hill.

Most of the people that had attended the funeral scrambled away to the front of the castle (they were at the back) for fear of what these armed strangers would do. Sir Jay stood his ground, along with Sir Julian and maybe another hundred or so brave people.

A few minutes later, the entire army had arrived in front of them, at least 2000 total. Sir Jay got a good look at them. All of the people at the front were black-skinned (or perhaps they were wearing black armour, he couldn't tell), with red eyes and looking absolutely expressionless. All of them looked exactly the same, and Sir Jay truly wondered whether they were people or not, and if they weren't, what were they?

Some more minutes passed, and finally someone who looked different from these emotionless people came out, possibly their leader. He was a fairly old man, with straight, combed black hair, glasses, and a grey suit that was unbuttoned with a black shirt underneath.

"What business do you have here?" Queen Misako snarled. She tried acting confident and strong on the outside, but she was nervous and scared on the inside.

"I am here to take the throne!" he announced loudly so nearly everyone could hear him. One man at the front of the castle's little "army" had the nerve to laugh.

 _Why is he laughing at a person who has at least 20 times the armed men we do at his command?_ Sir Jay thought.

"Where is my crown? And my throne? I will be the King!" the man boomed.

"You will not be the king, understand?" the Queen said strongly and surely.

The man only smiled, not at all intimidated by her. "I suppose I should tell you my name, at the very least. I am Cyrus Borg, a man that has lived between the Eastern and Northern Kingdoms for all my life. These here," he pointed at the black-armoured people, "are androids. Robots. I built them. I never would've dreamed I would use these robots to become King Cyrus, but here I am, waiting for the crown and the throne."

"I told you once, and I'll tell you again: you will not become king!" By now, Queen Misako was fuming at this man who goes by the name Cyrus Borg. "How dare you try and take the throne from the rightful heir!"

Cyrus only laughed. "I know who you are, Queen Misako. Your husband, King Garmadon, recently died and now the new king would have been Prince Lloyd. But, he won't be king; instead, I will."

"The nerve you have-"

Cyrus looked surprised. "The nerve _I_ have? Lady, I have more than enough armed men and robots to take on this petty army of yours and take the throne by force if I must. I highly recommend you and your son to surrender the throne to me, or else your funerals won't be too long from now." He snatched a sword from the nearest android and held it in the air. "The same goes for the rest of you, not just the royal family! Oppose me, and you die."

Sir Jay cringed. Queen Misako _had_ to surrender, unless they were all willing to die. Sir Jay certainly wouldn't want to die fighting a fight that they could absolutely not win. He was too young to die. Meanwhile, Queen Misako was old, and so was Prince Wu. If they died…not a problem to him or them. Their time isn't very far away anyways.

"So, what will it be?" Cyrus smirked.

Queen Misako had her head down, looking like she wanted to scream and rage and kick Cyrus' head off. "I…I will not surrender the throne!" she screamed at him.

Cyrus shrugged. "Suit yourself. I can kill you all if I need to." He commanded a small part of his army to attack them, and a battle was on.

 _Who brings a sword and armour to a funeral, unless they're going to merge multiple funerals into one?_ Sir Jay wondered in awe, as he saw how many people were armed and ready to fight. Sir Jay was quickly taken out of his thought by the sight of a sword coming at his face. He dodged it at the last second and decapicated the man…rather, the android that had tried killing him just now. The head of the android broke off in a rather unfashionable manner…a small explosion that blinded Sir Jay for a second or two.

In the chaos that fell on the funeral, Prince Wu grabbed his nephew's hand. "Lloyd, let's leave!"

"But what about mom?" the Prince shouted over the noise of metal on metal.

"I'm right here, son! I won't leave you!" her voice was heard over the noise as well. She grabbed Lloyd's hand, when somebody else's hand grabbed hers. She turned around and saw it was Cyrus, smiling an evil smile. She was yanked around by Cyrus and her son, until Cyrus won the game and yanked her out of the Prince's grasp.

"Mom!" Lloyd wailed. "Uncle! We have to help her! Cyrus has my mom!"

"Lloyd, we have to get going! Unless you want to die too!"

Lloyd thought for a moment, but realized no matter what happens to his mom, he'll come back and claim the throne some other time. But right now, he had to make it out alive. "I'm sorry, mom…I'll come back…" he whispered as he let his uncle drag him out of the chaos.

"Relent!" Sir Jay heard Cyrus' voice. "Everybody, stop! I have the Queen in my grasp!"

The fighting stopped immediately. They all turned to look in the direction Cyrus' voice was coming from. Sir Jay saw Borg holding a sword at Queen Misako's throat.

"Now, you will surrender, or see your Queen die!" he continued with his eyes wide. He looked almost insane.

"Enough!" a voice familiar to Sir Jay shouted. Jay saw Sir Julian Carter step forward and knock the sword out of Cyrus' hands. "I may be from the Western Kingdom, but a knight serves Ninjago, not only their Kingdom." As soon as he finished talking, Sir Julian broke down into a fit coughing and weezing.

At first, Cyrus Borg had a shocked face, seeing someone actually challenge him. Then when he saw Sir Julian coughing, he began to laugh madly. "A flu, eh? If you surrender, I'll let you live _and_ cure you of your flue! How about it?"

Sir Julian's coughing stopped. He glared at Cyrus. "Never!" he spat and went to stab Cyrus, but an android appeared in front of Julian's sword as fast as the electricity that powered it, and intercepted the blow. The robot moved its arm back, getting ready for another strike, then charged and slashed the sword right of Sir Julian's hand.

"Still want to fight?" Cyrus challenged. Sir Julian answered by raising his arms up in a surrendering position and walked back slowly. Immediately, he grabbed the sword from someone else's hand, lunged forward and stabbed the robot twice. On the second stab, he twisted the sword in a circle so that it left a whole of destroyed wire and electrical current that had nowhere to go. The robot "died", while Sir Julian smirked at Cyrus.

As if by nature, three more robots sprung forth, beside him on both sides and one in front of him. The one at his left slashed his left shoulder and Sir Julian fell to his knees. He began coughing again, head down, while Cyrus laughed at his misfortune and wrong choice of fighting. The one on his right drove its sword down on his sword hand, leaving a hole there. The one in front of the knight used its foot to knock Sir Julian down flat on his back, then lifted its sword and drove it right into Sir Julian's heart, leaving a "crack" there. A few seconds later, the Western knight's coughing died down, and his body stopped moving. Sir Julian Carter was dead.

Now, Sir Jay never really liked the man, but seeing someone so close to you die right in front of you isn't really something he wished would happen.

"Anybody else want to fight? Or will you all surrender?" Cyrus asked.

"We…we'll surrender," Queen Misako sighed, her voice filled with sadness and weakness.

"Good. Then I shall go inside and claim what is mine." he replied smugly.

As much as Sir Jay hated the man, he had to give him credit for getting the perfect time to invade the Central Kingdom: the time when the King dies, and Ninjago City is off-guard. He caught them perfectly.

* * *

"So I heard that old King Garmadon died," one of the men who worked with Cole said.

"Yeah," another replied. "By poison, they says."

"About time," said a third man, an old one. "He was old, and he wasn't even ruling well for the past few years."

"Hey, I got an idea!" the first man exclaimed. "How about I carve the King's face onto this tree stump with this tree branch?" He obviously seemed excited.

"You've seen him before?!" some other man asked amazedly.

He shook his head. "No, but I could at least try!"

"I-I don't think you should do that," Roger tried explaining to him. "It's kind of like mocking him."

The man with the idea laughed. "Why does it matter, Roger boy? None of us have seen him anyway, right?"

Everyone nodded. Cole hadn't ever seen the King either. Still, he thought Roger was right and it was mockery of the former King Garmadon to do such a thing.

"I agree with Roger." Cole spoke up. "It's not right to do that. I think."

Both men looked surprised, more for Roger, though.

"Well, I'll be hanged, _Cole_ thinks it's not right to do that?!" the idea man exclaimed with disbelief, looking at him and back at the others. "Who would've ever thought Cole actually cared about what's right and wrong?"

"I take that back. You can do it. Now just shut up, leave me alone, and do whatever you like." Cole grumbled at him and went back to the work of chopping down trees.

He grumbled something back to Cole that the muscleman didn't hear (luckily, else Cole would've punched him in the face) and decided to drop the branch and got back to work.

* * *

 **I have some fun stuff planned up for later. Hope you liked it!**


	6. Village in the Forest

**YES I FINALLY UPDATED ON THE DAY I WANTED TO! I almost didn't update because I urgently had to go somewhere, but have enough time right now to do so. Anyways, you get a full Lloyd POV and see how their journey is going.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 5: Village in the Forest

"Uncle, where are we going?" Prince Lloyd asked Prince Wu. They had been walking for hours without a single town or even a village in sight. They were both tired and hungry, although they found lots of water on the way from small streams.

"We are going to my…other house." Prince Wu replied with some hesitation. Technically, he wasn't lying.

Lloyd was surprised. "You have another house?"

Wu nodded, but did not say anything more on that topic. "There is a village up ahead in about another 10 minutes of walking. We can eat and rest up there for a bit."

Lloyd looked so happy. "Yes! Finally! Food!"

Sure enough, in 10 minutes they were right beside a village that was on their right. They walked through the trees in their way and entered the village. It was small, with a few huts and a market in the middle and general other needs the people may have. Altogether, no more than 20 small buildings in the entire village.

"Um, how far is this house of yours?" Lloyd asked nervously. He wasn't use to village life and would love to be in a city or even a town right about now, but little did he know that his uncle's "house" was completely isolated.

"Many days walk. It is in between the Southern and Western Kingdoms." Wu replied without much hesitation this time. He was searching for the village elder so that they could get some food.

Lloyd groaned at his uncle's response of "many days walk". He saw an old woman, even older than his dad, walking towards the market. Her hair was nearly white and she was very short.

"That's the village elder," his uncle informed him. "Be nice and courteous, or you may not get food."

Lloyd understood. He was used to being courteous and all, being the Prince of all of Ninjago. The thought of that made him sad, because that crazy Cyrus guy took the throne, HIS throne, rather. And then there was the person who poisoned his father. Lloyd swore he would find him and kill him.

"Good afternoon, Elder Loraine," Wu greeted the old lady when they walked up to her.

She turned around and instantly a smile grew on her face. "Oh, my! If it isn't Prince Wu!" Then she took notice of Lloyd. "And who might this handsome young man be, if I may ask?"

"That is Lloyd, or Prince Lloyd, actually. He is the son of the former King Garmadon, my brother."

Elder Loraine's smile vanished. "'Former' King Garmadon? What do you mean?"

Wu stroke his beard. "Ah. So your village has not yet heard my brother was poisoned and died?"

She shook her head. "What terrible news. I never would've imagined hearing such horrible news, at least not from you! I am terribly sorry for your loss. The loss for both of you."

"Thank you." Lloyd told her, but inside his rage for the murdered built up again, but he kept his cool, to not get scolded by his uncle.

"So what are you doing out here? Shouldn't Prince Lloyd be back at the castle in Ninjago City, ruling the realm?" she asked.

Both of the members of the royal family shook their heads. "No, a man na-" they both began, but realized they were both speaking at the same time. "Somebody-" they said again. They looked at each other confusedly. Why were they both answering?

The village elder laughed. "I'll give King Lloyd a chance to speak. Why are you out here, my King?"

"Um, well, you see, a man named Cyrus Borg came from the Northeast and said he would take the throne," Lloyd explained to the elder. "We were holding the funeral at the time, and it was just finished when he arrived with an army of at least 2000 people. He threatened us, and eventually my mom, Queen Misako, gave in and let him take the throne. Oh, and in between somewhere, a battle broke out, and that's when my uncle and I left. I don't know what happened to my mom, but I will get her back…"

The elder started smiling again. "It is nice to hear news after such a long time. Last news I heard was when some well-known knight in the South died…and that was, what, 3 years ago? Something like that. Anyways, Lloyd, I will pray to your grandfather that you will become King Lloyd sometime soon."

"But why didn't you call me King Lloyd right now?"

Elder Loraine leaned in a bit. "Right now, you are only wandering, trying to prepare to take the throne. I know exactly where your uncle is taking you, but I will not tell you; I promised him many years ago not to tell anyone. But, young man, heed my advice: listen and do what he says. It will be for the better of you."

Lloyd didn't really care what the old lady said, even if she is a friend of his uncle. He just wanted some good food and a place to sit and rest his tired legs.

"Ah, Elder Loraine, mind if we could get some place to eat and sit? We've been since around noon, and it is past time we had a meal," his uncle asked her politely.

The elder thought for a moment. "We don't have many visits from you, but please, help yourself. I know a lady that has a lot of food cooked, and I'm sure she won't mind sharing it if I tell her so."

"Thank you!" Lloyd cried in happiness.

"Very many thanks, elder," Wu told her graciously.

She waved it dismissively, as if it were nothing. "It's nothing. Not after how you helped us…" Seeing Wu's face and his shaking of his head, she stopped. She had realized they weren't alone, and Lloyd was listening intently.

"Anyways, yes, follow me, and you will get some food." she told them suddenly.

Wu bowed, and Lloyd followed suit. They walked into a house, if Lloyd could even call it that, made of stone and looked like it was sticking together because of…glue? Cement? Lloyd didn't know. Inside, they saw a woman many years younger than both Wu and the village elder, scrubbing and washing dishes. The elder told her that Wu and Lloyd would have come from far (she left out the fact that they were royal), and they were her friends and would like to eat. The woman nodded and got up to fetch some food from her kitchen.

"Now, you two may sit here on the floor, and she will get you something to eat, okay?" Elder Loraine informed them. "Tell me if you need anything else. I'll be happy to help."

"Thank you for your help," Wu told her and bowed again. She bowed in return. Uncle and nephew sat on the cold, hard floor and awaited their meal. The woman briskly returned with two bowls and two spoons and set them in front of them.

Lloyd looked in his bowl and saw some kind of stew that made him want to throw up. It was green with small chunks of vegetables. For lack of anything else to eat, Lloyd took the spoon and tried a bit of the stew. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either.

"Can't we get something better to eat?" Lloyd complained to his uncle.

"Stay quiet and eat, Lloyd. You may not get anything better for a while."

Lloyd sighed, but obeyed. His uncle was right. He probably wouldn't get anything better for some time, outside of perhaps random nuts and berries growing in bushes on their way to wherever he was headed. He hoped his uncle knew another place where they could eat, or perhaps they could get some horses or ponies from here, so they could ride instead of continuing on foot.

"So, uh, what was the elder saying about you helping them all those years ago?" Lloyd asked his uncle, wondering what Elder Loraine meant about Wu helping them.

Wu hesitated. "I'll…I'll tell you once we leave this village and are on our way to my other house."

Lloyd sighed again and continued eating.

They asked for seconds and got it, and this time it was steaming hot so they waited a little for it to cool down. They finished eating in about another 15 minutes. They got up and handed the bowls to the woman who gave them the food.

"Thank you for the meal," Wu told her happily. "It was nice to eat food after many hours."

"Yes, thank you!" Lloyd cried. At first, the stew didn't taste that good, but then as he continued eating, it got better and turned out to be pretty good. Maybe not as good as the food he'd eat back at the castle, but pretty good nonetheless.

They left and searched for the village elder again, because Wu said he had something to ask her: another favour. They found her in the market which had about another two people shopping there.

As if it was a sixth sense, the elder turned around and greeted them. "Did you have a nice meal?"

"Yes, it was good," Wu replied. "But I came here to ask of one more thing, if I may."

She nodded. "Ask away."

"Do you have any horses or even ponies we could use? It is many days away to the place we are headed to."

She thought for a minute. "Ponies, eh? We only have one in this entire village, and it's for sale. I'm afraid I can't give it to you, because it belongs to somebody else."

Wu smiled a bit. "That's okay. I have money, most likely enough to pay for it."

She nodded. "Well then, follow me. I'll take you to the man who owns it."

So they walked for two minutes until they reached his small hut made of straw and mud, a typical hut. She motioned for them to step in and tell him their business. He was quite nosy, she warned them.

They took her advice and entered the straw hut and saw a man petting a pony that sat in his lap. The pony itself looked very skinny and not even that strong, definitely not strong enough to hold both of them.

"Hello there," Wu greeted the man. The man took no notice of them, so he tried again. "Hello, sir."

This time, the man's ears popped up and he looked up and studied them for a moment. "Well, what do you two want here?"

"We heard from Elder Loraine that you would be willing to sell your pony," Wu explained.

"It's not just a pony, it's a Chewer!" the man cut him off.

Wu looked confused. "A Chewer?"

"That's the pony's name, and you'd best treat it with respect else you'll be walkin' to the moon!"

"Yes, uh, we'd like to buy the pony…I mean Chewer, if you don't mind it." his uncle tried again.

The man thought for a moment and chewed on something, but then Lloyd realized he was only chewing to make it look like he was chewing something; the man actually didn't have anything in his mouth. "Well, where's the money? I haven't gotten all day."

"How much?" Wu asked.

"50 gold should do it."

Wu fished into his pocket and pulled out five coins, each worth 10 gold. "Here, 50 gold in all."

The man counted the money, and then pocketed it. "Well, here ya go. Take good care of Chewer. Oh, and also make sure he don't run off while you're sleepin' or anything, else you be comin' back here and paying double!"

Both uncle and nephew nodded. "We promise to take good care of it."

"Chewer," the man corrected. He motioned for the pony to go to their new masters…for the time being and behave himself.

They went out of the hut, guiding the pony with them. There, they saw Elder Loraine and the woman from earlier that had fed them, standing there with bags and some packs and some bottles.

"What are those for?" Lloyd asked with a bit excitement because they might get some provisions for their journey.

"Oh, the bags have food that don't go spoilt easily," the elder explained. "The packs are cooled to preserve some foods that need preserving, and the bottles have fresh water."

Lloyd looked at the pony, than back at the supplies. "I think we're going to have to end up carrying some, based on how this pony looks…"

The three older people laughed. "That's fine, Lloyd, you're still young and strong, so help your uncle, okay?" The elder winked.

Lloyd sighed and groaned at the same time, which earned him some more laughs from the three adults. They loaded as much as they felt the pony could lift, and the rest was put into a big backpack that Lloyd had to carry. Soon, they were waving and making their way to Wu's "other house."

* * *

 **Nothing else to say. Hope you liked it!**


	7. The Green Ninja

**Sorry for the delay, I was a bit busy yesterday and couldn't update or finish writing. Anyways, there is an important author's note at the end, so make sure to read it!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 6: The Green Ninja

"Uncle, yesterday you said we'll be reaching this house of yours tomorrow. How much longer?" Lloyd complained. His feet were very tired, and even his butt was sore from all the hours of riding on the pony. He and his uncle took turns riding the pony so that they could get a bit of "rest", and most of the time it was Wu who was seated on the pony because Lloyd was much younger and "could walk for longer". Even so, Lloyd got several hours of sitting on the pony, because it took them three days to become what his uncle said was "close".

"We will be there shortly." he replied, either not knowing or not caring that Lloyd would not feel like his question was answered.

"How soon is shortly?"

"In perhaps another hour."

Lloyd groaned. Right now, both of them were walking and the pony was carrying much of their supplies, which they weren't short on at all. Speaking of the pony, its name Chewer was well given. It chewed one of their bags that eventually became a hole, which let out potatoes and sent a football team of crows screeching and literally tackling them and the other crows just to get a few bites out of the potatoes. It also seemed like one time, Lloyd fell asleep on the pony, who decided to gladly chew at his hair, to which his uncle said he "knew nothing of it", which was quite false: Wu knew that was happening but did absolutely nothing to stop it. The pony was also doing quite well; in just a short span of three days, it became much stronger looking. It got to eat a lot, as well as rest, and the two family members supposed Chewer didn't much to eat in that village.

They hadn't run into any other villages or towns along the way, which was fine for them since they had enough food to last the entire journey. They had three meals a day, though they wouldn't mind a fourth like they did in the castle.

After nearly another hour of walking and riding for Lloyd and Wu, respectively, they came across a large house. It looked to be four or maybe even five stories tall, though Lloyd couldn't see any windows on some of the floors so he wasn't quite sure. It had a stone base and the rest was made of wood. On his left, there were rocks, and on his right there was a little stream. From behind the house he could hear a waterfall. Lloyd could also see a stable outside the house.

"Is this…your house?" Lloyd asked. He wasn't used to seeing such a house; it looked like something only a wealthy person could afford, which wasn't unlike Wu.

His uncle nodded. "Yes, it is. Well, actually, it is mostly Garmadon's house, but I guess it is mine now."

"Why would you come all the way out here?"

"Lloyd, listen around you. Listen to your surroundings. Do you hear anything besides the waterfall, wind, leaves, and some birds chirping here and there?"

Lloyd listened for a few moments, but shook his head. "It's very quiet outside of those things you mentioned."

Wu nodded again. "Exactly. It is a peaceful place, and very relaxing. It's a good getaway from the castle life."

Lloyd looked a bit sad. "Why didn't I ever see this place?"

"Your parents and I used to come here a lot when we were a bit younger, before you were born. But, after you were born, it stopped…I don't know why."

"One think I don't understand is…why did you bring me here?" Lloyd asked slowly, to make sure he got the right words out.

"Would you rather be locked up in your own prison?" he replied with a question of his own. Lloyd quickly shook his head for a no. "Well, there's your answer. It is much better to prepare to take the throne again by hiding than be locked up in the prisons that should be used for criminals."

"How exactly are we supposed to prepare to take the throne out here?" Lloyd gestured to the big house, stable, and their environment of rocks, water, and some trees.

"That I will explain to you once we get inside. Shall we?" Wu made an expectant motion for Lloyd to follow him.

"What about the pony?" Lloyd objected.

"I think it can go back to its owner…if it wants to." He leaned in to the pony. "Do you want to go home, stay here, or roam on your own wherever you wish to go?"

The pony gave a quick neigh and bolted off in the direction they came from. "I take that as the first or third option?" Wu half-asked and stated.

"Whatever. Let's get inside and you can tell me why you brought me here." Lloyd walked towards the door. He turned the knob and tried to open it. "It's locked!" he called out to his uncle.

Wu began to walk towards the door, too. "Of course it's locked, silly. Lucky for you, I have the key." He rummaged through his own personal bag that Lloyd dared not look in ever, even when his uncle was sleeping and Lloyd was keeping watch so nothing weird happens, like thieves coming or Chewer running off.

Wu pulled out a small golden key. He inserted it into the keyhole, the one Lloyd had took no notice of when he tried opening the door, twisted it, and they heard a lock unlock itself on the other side. "After you, Lloyd."

Lloyd turned the knob a second time, and this time, it opened. They were greeted by falling dust off the top of the door, which made them both cough and sneeze.

"Been many years since these doors were opened," Wu said in between his coughs.

A minute later, Wu led Lloyd to what he called their "sitting room". It was a wide room, in the shape of a square with red carpeting. There seemed to be no chairs, so Lloyd assumed he would have to sit on the floor, and he did.

"So what is it that you wanted to tell me? And what is this place?" Lloyd asked after he sat down.

His uncle Wu also sat down in front of them so that they were face-to-face. "It is of utmost importance, Lloyd," he began.

"Well why don't you hurry up and tell me instead of delaying?" Lloyd nearly shouted. He was losing his patience.

"Very well then. There is a prophecy. The prophecy states that there will be four Chosen Ones who will be chosen to protect Ninjago. They will become ninja, and learn the martial art of Spinjitzu. But, there is said to be a fifth Chosen One, the green ninja, who is told to be more powerful than all the other ninja." After he said this, he rummaged through his bag and brought out a piece of papyrus; a scroll, perhaps. He handed it to Lloyd and the young adult looked at it. There were definitely four ninja, alright; Lloyd could tell from their clothing. In the top left was a ninja in blue. Beside him, in the top right, was a ninja in red. At the bottom left was a ninja in black, and the bottom left was a ninja in white. In the center, much larger than the others, was a ninja in green.

"But why are you telling me all this?" Lloyd asked after he was done looking at the pictures of the ninja.

"I have not finished what I was going to say. You will find out after I am done explaining." Wu answered rather curtly. "The one in blue is the ninja of lightning; the one in red is the ninja of fire; the one in black is the ninja of earth; and the one in white is the ninja of ice. Lightning, Fire, Earth, Ice: all of these are the elements of Creation. The green ninja can control all four of those elements, giving him the element of Creation."

"Can you get to the point please?" Lloyd asked very impatiently.

"Patience, my nephew. But, I was getting to the point anyway, so you won't have to wait much longer. Anyways, the green ninja is…let's just say, the ultimate Chosen One, higher than the rest. There is another prophecy that I do not have, but that one says the green ninja will determine the fate of the world in the fight against an ancient evil: the Overlord."

Lloyd sighed. It didn't seem like this concerned him at all, but he was wrong. Very wrong. "So? I still don't understand why you're telling me all this."

"I am telling you this, Lloyd, because in the Prophecy of the Green Ninja, it states that the green ninja will be the grandson of the First Spinjitzu Master." He leaned in and smiled at Lloyd.

Lloyd was horrorstruck. "A-are-are you saying that I'm the green ninja?!"

Wu nodded. "Yes, Lloyd. That is why I have brought you here: to train. You will become a ninja here, and then defeat the Overlord and take back what is yours: the throne."

Lloyd looked around, looking for a sword or shield or anything that could be ninja-like, but saw nothing of the sort. "But how? There's nothing here. And what do you know about a ninja anyway?"

Wu laughed. "You have much to learn, young nephew. I know the way of the ninja, as did your father. I know Spinjitzu, and so did he. Now," he said as he stood up, "I will teach you the way of the ninja, and find the other four Chosen Ones as well."

* * *

After that massacre of a funeral and when Queen Misako gave up the throne to Cyrus Borg, King Julien wasn't the same, and Zane had seen every bit of it. Cyrus…wait, no, _King_ Cyrus now, made King Julien swear loyalty to him, to which his father grudgingly accepted only because he was threatened to be hanged.

"The nerve that man has!" King Julien was raging in their carriage as they were heading back to Strongwynne, where their own castle would be waiting. "We should just attack him and his stupid army of robots and take back the throne! Then we can hand it to the real king, King Lloyd!"

"Father, calm down," Zane tried soothing him. "Nobody, not even Cyrus knows where King Lloyd is."

"Cyrus probably does know," King Julien grumbled. "He probably has King Lloyd in his own prison cells, along with his mother and uncle."

"The last sighting of King Lloyd was being dragged away by Prince Wu, but nobody knows to where. Queen Misako seems to have gone missing or capture."

"Well we have to find them!" his father roared. "We can't let them roam around in the wild on their own!"

"Father, they'll be okay."

"No, they won't be okay!" he retorted. "It's the King who doesn't even know much sword fighting, and an old man who's the old king's brother. Any group of bandits could come by, kidnap them, and ransom them to Cyrus! We have to send out a search party!"

Zane sighed. This was going nowhere. His father was too stubborn to listen to him. "Well, do what you like, King Julien."

His father sat back with a bit of a smug look on his face. "That's my boy."

There was a silence between the two for many minutes. At last, King Julien spoke up. "Do you remember how Prince Wu once showed us that prophecy of the green ninja thing? He also said the green ninja would be the grandson of the First Spinjitzu Master."

Zane nodded. "That would mean the green ninja is…"

It began to make sense to them both. "King Lloyd!" they shouted together, which made them both feel a bit embarrassed.

"But," King Julien gave Zane a puzzled look, "who would teach King Lloyd to become a ninja?"

Zane shrugged. He had no idea either. Looks like they would just have to find out…

* * *

 **So Lloyd finally finds out he's the green ninja. Good job, Prince Wu.**

 **On to the important part. The next chapter I write for this story will be the last one until I finish my other story, A Tale of Destiny. That means I'll be postponing this one until that one is done. I don't know why, I have everything planned out but I just find it a bit hard to write both at the same time. So this one will be on hold for a couple of months. However, I will write the next one since it has some important stuff that I don't want to leave you hanging on.**

 **So sorry about that if you like this story! I promise I'll be updating this again as soon as I finish A Tale of Destiny, and as much as I want to write this one as well, I just can't for some reason.**

 **Hope you liked this chapter!**


	8. History of Ninjago

**This will be my last chapter until A Tale of Destiny is done. Sorry about that, just can't seem to focus on both stories at once.**

 **Hope you like this chapter! Filled with Ninjago's history (for this story).**

* * *

Chapter 7: History of Ninjago

It was nighttime. Clear skies, no wind, and just Wu and his little communication device outside.

Wu turned on the device that was on his wrist. "Longbeard here," he said into the device.

"Ah, Longbeard, or should I say Wu? How nice of you to talk to me," a voice said from inside of the device.

"Everything going well over there? I heard you have been doing nothing these days to do what you promised me you would do."

The man at the other side laughed. "Wu, if you were king, you wouldn't either! Being king is so fun!"

Wu sighed. "You forced me into doing something I never wanted to do, by promising that you'll make Ninjago a better place." Wu's voice was steadily rising, to the point a certain someone from inside the house heard him, and decided to come out to see what was going on. "Yet you have done nothing! If anything, criminals are becoming bolder and bolder by the day, because they don't see anyone to stop them from doing their terrible deeds. Crime rates have gone up. Corruption has spread. You also said you'd give androids to people, to make this world more technologically advanced. Yet you sit there on that uncomfortable throne because it's _fun_? Why, I ask you?"

The man, King Cyrus, laughed again, but it seemed more like an angry laugh. "Don't rush me. It's only been a few days since you poisoned Garmadon and I took the throne." Lloyd, who was standing in front of the door silently, gasped at this. His anger was rising, but he kept quiet to continue hearing what Cyrus had to say. "I will do what I promised in the following weeks and months, but do not rush me!" Cyrus continued. "Oh, also, if you ever threaten me, say goodbye to your sister in-law."

"Misako! You have her? Where is she?"

"Oh, she's doing fine in her own prison cells." Cyrus gave an evil smile.

"Prison cells?!" Wu shouted at the screen on his wrist. "That wasn't a part of the deal!"

"She refused to become a royal jester as I had planned for her, and said she'd rather rot in a cell. So I merely fulfilled her wish."

Wu sighed, and put his head in his hand. "I hate you."

Cyrus laughed. "I love you too, Wu. Goodbye!" The screen went dark, and Wu's head was still in his hand. Lloyd finally let out his anger.

"Was that Cyrus?" he growled in a dangerous voice.

Wu looked very surprised, even with his back to Lloyd. He turned around to see Lloyd walking towards him in a very threatening manner. "Hi, Lloyd. Shouldn't you be asleep?" Wu half-asked in a scared and nervous tone.

"That was Cyrus, wasn't it?" Lloyd spat. "He said you poisoned King Garmadon! My father! Your brother!" Lloyd's voice was getting louder and louder.

"Listen, Lloyd, I will expla-"

Lloyd blew up. "I don't want explanations! I should just kill you right here and now!"

Wu got up. "Calm down, Lloyd. I will explain." he affirmed sternly.

Lloyd grew softer, mostly in fear. "Then tell me," he snapped to continue looking strong and powerful.

His uncle showed no fear of him anymore. "Let us both sit down, and I will explain to you calmly."

Lloyd sat down really quickly, and Wu took his time. "Now, let me start with some history." Wu said after he sat down. "And you will listen." Lloyd nodded, but not without some hesitation. "But, I'm just warning you: this will be long."

"Doesn't matter. Just talk."

Wu nodded. "400 years ago, my father, your grandfather, the First Spinjitzu Master, was born. When he was about 50 years old, which is 350 years ago-"

"I can do math," Lloyd snapped.

"…the Overlord, the ancient evil I spoke of to you, attacked Ninjago. He lives on the Dark Island now with his army of Stone Warriors, which I will get to in a bit. So, your grandfather fought the Overlord with the four Golden Weapons of Spinjitzu: the Scythe of Quakes, the Sword of Fire, the Nunchucks of Lightning, and the Shurikens of Ice. Even with the four most powerful weapons in Ninjago, he was no match for the Overlord and the Stone Army. So, my father used the Golden Weapons to separate the part he was standing on, now known as Ninjago, with the part the Overlord was standing on, now known as the Dark Island."

"The people regarded my father as a hero, and wanted him to be the King of Ninjago. About 280 years ago, ruling all of Ninjago became too much for him, so he separated Ninjago into the five Kingdoms that we know today, and appointed four other men to become the new Kingdoms' rulers."

"50 years ago, my father passed away and his long life was ended. The throne went to my older brother, your father, Garmadon. We were both merely young adults; I believe Garmadon was only 26 at the time, and I was 22. Anyways, so Garmadon ruled the Central Kingdom and all of Ninjago very well for the first 40 or 45 years. But in the past 8-10 years or so, he was not ruling as well. He began to get sick more often, feeling tired, just general things many old people go through. Slowly around 5 years ago, crime and corruption rates began rising, because those kinds of people were aware the King wasn't doing much to stop it anymore."

"One day some months ago, Cyrus came to the castle. At that time, he wasn't regarded as a threat like he is now. He-he told me that if he became King of Ninjago, he'd make it a better place, by building his androids and giving them to families to make all the Kingdoms more technologically advanced. He told me how he had plans for machines that take you wherever you want to go instead of using a horse and carriage. He told me he had plans to build bigger androids, robots capable of fighting in case an issue of that sort arises where we'll need more power than just thousands of men equipped with armour, swords, and shields. I thought of how Garmadon wasn't ruling as well as before, so I agreed Cyrus should become King. I didn't know how he would become king, because Garmadon wouldn't allow it without a big fight. He told me I should poison him. I-I feel ashamed to do this, and I never wanted to, but Cyrus told me it was for the best. Now, look where we landed. We were forced to leave, else who knows what Cyrus would've done to us. I am so sorry, Lloyd. I realized what a huge mistake I made, and I know I should be punished for it, just…not now. I have much to teach you. You'll need my help, and so will the other four Chosen Ones." Wu was close to tears when he finished.

There was a long silence. Neither nephew nor uncle said anything until many minutes passed. Lloyd gritted his teeth all throughout, trying to restrain himself from strangling his old uncle.

"Fine." Lloyd said at last in a very reluctant tone. "As much as I hate you now for poisoning my dad, I won't kill you…yet." Wu looked relieved to hear this. "But when I become King, the first thing I'll do is execute you."

Wu nodded, ready to take any punishment Lloyd would give him, even if it meant death. He stood up. "It is time I make up for the sin of murdering my own brother. I will teach you and the other four the way of the ninja, so that you will be ready to defeat the Overlord once and for all, and to take back your throne."

Lloyd looked up at his uncle in wonder. "How are you going to teach me the way of the ninja? You're an old man now!"

Wu chuckled lightly. "I may be old, but…I know the way of the ninja. We'll start tomorrow at dawn, which is 6 AM." He walked back inside, hand-in-hand behind his back. He didn't seem to hear Lloyd's complaints of waking up too early, although if he did Wu did a very good job of ignoring them.

* * *

"Kurt Casey," King Julien addressed one of his Captain of Guards. "I am sending out a search party to look for King Lloyd and his uncle, Prince Wu. I want you and your men to be one of those search parties."

"My King, I mean no offense, but, don't you think King Lloyd and Prince Wu could be anywhere in the Five Kingdoms?" he asked without any fear in his eyes or voice. "They may be outside the borders of a Kingdom for all we know."

King Julien faced the Captain of Guards known as Curt with a hint of a smile. He liked this man: very loyal, honest, and responsible, and he always spoke his mind when he thought something was a bit off. "Yes, I am aware of that, but you must find them anyways." When he saw the horrified look on Curt's face, King Julien laughed. "Don't worry, Curt, there will be more search parties other than yours. I am not sending you and your men alone to go look for two men in all of Ninjago when you may encounter many strange men. I have also sent falcons to the castles of the other things, minus this Cyrus man, so that they can send out their own search parties."

To this, Curt looked relieved, but Prince Zane didn't.

"King Julien, what about Sir James Westark and his lost group of men on their journey into the Birchwood Forest? No search parties for them?" he asked his father, remembering to address him as "King Julien" in front of his men.

King Julien turned to face his robot son. "That is not of much importance anymore. What happened happened, there is nothing we could do except look for them. I also held a council meeting after we came back from that disastrous funeral, and everyone agreed when I asked if we should just let Sir James Westark and his men be. What I mean to say is to not send out a search party for them. They are most likely dead."

"And if they're not dead?" Zane tried overriding his father's orders.

"Then they shall find their way back to this castle on their own. No need to look for them." King Julien's tone meant that's that. There was no more talking about the matter.

King Julien chose many other men to lead search parties to find King Lloyd and Prince Wu after his little talk with his son. They were all to leave at dawn on the day after tomorrow, as they would have enough time to prepare for their journey.

Prince Zane still thought something was weird about Sir James' disappearance and the appearance of Cyrus Borg, but he decided to keep his little theory to himself.

* * *

Kai and Nya finally reached Orland, but what they saw wasn't a pleasant sight. People were in the streets, holding torches and shouting things, some cursing and others saying completely absurd things (crazy things in Kai and Nya's minds, that is) like "kill Cyrus Dork" and the like.

Out of the crowd, they managed to spot Sultan Braudel, their blacksmith friend. They had to go through the crazy riot just to get to him. When he turned around, a smile grew on his face. They dragged themselves out of the riot to a safer and quieter area: the café.

"Well, well, if it isn't my blacksmith friends from Ignacia! Kai! Nya! It's been so long since I last saw you two!" Sultan exclaimed as they sat down at a table in the café.

"Yeah, it's been a while!" Kai enthused back at him.

"What's going on out there?" Nya asked, almost as if she was angry at Sultan, although he did nothing.

The blacksmith sighed. "A riot."

Nya's hazel eyes widened. "A riot? Why?"

"The people want Lord Proteus to gather all the Southern troops and kill Cyrus Dork…I mean, Cyrus Borg! Sorry, that name is quite catchy and rather suiting." He grinned at them.

"Who's this Cyrus Borg dude?" Kai asked.

Sultan tilted his head a bit. "So you haven't heard? King Garmadon's funeral went horribly wrong. Some guy named Cyrus Borg crashed the funeral with thousands of robots and men, all armed to fight. He claimed himself to be the King of Ninjago after King Garmadon died."

"Aaaand he actually got the throne?" Kai asked with a look that told Sultan he didn't believe him.

Sultan nodded. "A fight actually broke out. Around 100 men who were actually armed and brave enough to fight thousands stood up to him when Queen Misako refused to give Cyrus the throne. Cyrus told his androids to attack, and eventually Cyrus got hold of Queen Misako himself and commanded both armies to stop fighting and surrender the throne to him. Then some knight named Sir Julian Carter was stupid enough to attack Cyrus and got himself killed. Queen Misako surrendered the throne, so Cyrus became King Cyrus."

"And what about King Lloyd? Where was he this whole time?" Nya continued with the questions.

Sultan shrugged. "Some people say Cyrus executed him, others say King Lloyd is in a prison cell, but most people say he and Prince Wu ran off to some unknown place."

The two siblings looked a bit relieved, but still worried. "Wow. I can't believe so much has changed since we left Ignacia only a week ago."

"Say, what brings you here to Orland?" Sultan asked, now being the listener and actually interested in the matter.

"Well, you see," Kai started. "Nya and I were wondering if we could get some metal from you? I mean, a different metal. One that's not iron."

* * *

 **FOOLISH, TREACHEROUS, WU! HOW DARE YOU MURDER YOUR OWN BROTHER!**

 **I wanted the First Spinjitzu Master to seem like the God of Ninjago here, what with a long life and "defeating" the Overlord.**

 **That's all for now, everybody! I might update from time to time while I'm still doing A Tale of Destiny, simply because I hate making people wait lol. I've got lots of fun stuff planned for this story, and same goes for my other one as well!**

 **Please don't kill me if you really like this story xD**


	9. Wild Goose Chase

**Yeahhhh I'm back with a chapter! I decided to update this because I wrote many chapters of A Tale of Destiny and I wanted to post a chapter of this. I might post another one soon, maybe next week, so stay tuned if you like this story!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 8: Wild Goose Chase

Lloyd woke up early in the morning to start his first day of training. He had no idea why he had to wake up so early, or even how he was going to train, and he didn't really trust his uncle after what happened last night.

Still, the small part of Lloyd that did trust him and believed that he wanted to make things right told his brain that this would be the right thing to do.

He went down with a yawn and saw his uncle drinking tea. _What's up with that tea? He always drinks it…_ "Good morning, uncle," is what he said.

His uncle acknowledged he was there, but didn't even open his eyes. "Good morning, Lloyd. Ready for your first day of training?"

Lloyd nodded grumpily. He didn't exactly like waking up so early, because he could wake up whenever he wanted to at the castle. Sadly, that life was gone…for now.

Wu got up with agility Lloyd did not expect him to have. "Well, let's get started. Follow me, if you will." Lloyd didn't really "will" to follow him, but he did it anyways. They entered an empty room.

"Uh…is the stuff invisible, or am I just going to do exercises here?" Lloyd asked, uncertain if he was missing something.

His uncle chuckled lightly. "See this button here?" He pointed towards a red button in the wall. "This will make the training equipment come up. I want you to press it."

Lloyd groaned. Why was his uncle making him do stupid things like pressing a button? Wu was right next to it, too. "Fine, whatever." Lloyd walked over and pressed the button. As soon as he did so, he felt the floor shake a little, and then out of the ground appeared a training course. "Woah," he breathed. "All this is under the floor?"

Wu nodded. "As you just saw it. Now, attempt the training course once so I can see how fit you are."

Lloyd nodded and attempted a spinning carousel with cut-outs of enemies with swords hanging. He couldn't make it past the first one.

"Hm, I thought you would do better than that. No worries. You'll have to do some basic exercises first."

"Can you show me how it's done, then?" Lloyd asked, annoyed. Wu smiled and "attempted" the training course. He finished the entire course with such flexibility and agility that it left Lloyd's mouth open. Wu finished the entire course in 10 seconds.

"Does that help?" his uncle asked when he was done.

"Er…um…yes…no…" Lloyd stammered, still not being able to find words that could express what he had just witnessed. An old man in his senior years finished a training course in 10 seconds…and a young man like Lloyd couldn't get past the first obstacle! Obviously, experience came with it, and Wu must've done this a thousand times, but the agility and flexibility is what shocked Lloyd more.

"Anyways, let us do some exercises." Wu said with a tone that meant no arguing. He and Lloyd did some things like push-ups, sit-ups, and lunges, followed by more complex yoga-like exercises. By the end of it all, Lloyd was already beginning to feel sore, and Wu looked a bit tired, but not much.

"Now that you have gotten started, it is time I looked for the other Chosen Ones," Wu suddenly announced to his nephew.

Lloyd looked angry. "What?! You only 'trained' me for a few minutes, and now you want to leave me here?! I'm coming with you!"

"No, Lloyd," he said firmly. "That would be a good idea, until you notice how out of shape you are to become a ninja. No, not just _a_ ninja, you are _the_ green ninja, the one destined to defeat the Overlord! You must stay here and train."

Lloyd sighed angrily. He hated being treated like this, but his uncle did have a point. "I never chose to be this 'green ninja' thing anyways," he said bitterly.

Wu could only offer a shrug in condolence. "It happens. You cannot avoid your destiny." He turned back to leave the safety of the house. "And whatever you do, don't leave this monastery! If any bandits find you and recognize you, I'm sure Cyrus Borg would pay a lot of gold in exchange for you."

"And what if someone attacks this place?" the Chosen One asked.

"Then, you must head to the second and third floors. Watch out for the traps, they are the house's defenses, so if you trigger them, the house will be defenseless against anyone who wishes to attack. At that point, you would have to take them on yourself."

"And what if you run into trouble?"

Wu smiled knowingly. "I have many secrets bandits, robbers, and other criminals do not know about me. I can take down many formidable opponents. Do not worry about me, please." He left the room and Lloyd was all alone. Lloyd didn't even want to see him off; he hated him after what he did, so why should he do that?

Without another word exchanged between uncle and nephew, Wu left, and Lloyd barely noticed. He did some more exercises as he had been advised, but then gave up because he was already beginning to feel sore.

Many days past with the same thing everyday. Lloyd would train in the morning and evening. He did exercises in the morning, and attempted the training course during the evening. His body became accustomed to all the exercise, and it hurt less and less everyday.

* * *

As for Wu, he decided he would go to the Southern Kingdom. He knew the Southern Kingdom is where he would find one of the other four Chosen Ones, the ninja of fire. The first town he came across was Ironwood, ruled by the old Lord Redlyn. There, he didn't find anyone he thought fit for being the ninja of fire. Then he came across Fairwick, a large town which happened to have lots of potential candidates, as well as many people who liked they would want to rob him. Ultimately, he didn't find anyone there. All this time, he had cut off his beard and went by a different name so that he isn't suspected to be the Prince, Prince Wu. Things could get tricky if bounty hunters found and recognized him and decided to ransom him to Cyrus.

Next he came across a little town called Ignacia. He thought he wouldn't find anyone there, but he was wrong. He had completely forgotten that a good friend of his lived here. He decided to see if that blacksmith shop was still about. When he got there, he was pleasantly surprised to see it was still in business.

"Hey, Nya, can you get me some of the metal Sultan gave us?" a young man about 20 years old with spiky brown hair called out to somebody in the back of the shop.

"Yeah, sure, Kai, just gimme a second." a voice that sounded to be of a young woman replied. She returned with a chunk of metal, and handed it to the boy named Kai.

Wu's eyes bulged when he saw the smooth, pure black metal. "Cretanian metal, I see," he suddenly said before he could help himself.

Both boy and girl, now taking notice of him, looked to the direction he was in. "How do you know?" Kai asked with a glint of curiosity in his eyes.

"I've…I've been too Cretain Island before," he blurted out. He had no other lie to tell. The truth was that he once had a sword made of this same metal nearly 30 years ago.

Kai looked at him suspiciously, then shrugged. "Whatever. The shop is closed, you can come back tomorrow in case you're interested in buying anything." He turned to the metal, but decided otherwise. "I've never seen you around here. Did ya move here recently?"

Wu hesitated. He couldn't say he was the brother of the former King Garmadon, and he didn't want to lie and say that he recently moved here, as Kai had asked. "No, I came here looking for something. Someone, rather."

"Well, ya probably won't find anyone around here, but it I can help, I'd love to!" said the girl, whose name was Nya.

Wu smiled. He had a good feeling Kai will become the ninja of fire. "Actually, yes. Do you know anyone by the name Sho Smith?"

The two (whom Wu assumed to be siblings) looked at each other nervously. "Yeah…he's our dad...passed away some years ago…" Nya muttered slowly.

Wu was surprised. No wonder he hadn't from him in a while. Now Wu regretted not taking the time to come out here to see why Sho hadn't wrote for all those months. "Oh…well…I had no idea. I'm sorry to hear, but I had no idea he passed away."

"Wait…you _knew_ our dad?" Kai asked.

Wu nodded. "We were good friends, maybe not best friends because of how far we lived and how long it took for our letters to reach one another, which slowed our communication."

"Where d'ya live?" Nya asked.

Wu wasn't really fond of the type of talking people with little education have, but he decided against it and that it wasn't polite to bring that up. He also hesitated again at that question. He shouldn't lie, but he didn't want to tell the truth that he was Prince Wu. But, if Kai was to be his student, it would be best to start off by being honest. "I live in the Central Kingdom. Also, please do not tell anyone this, but I am Prince Wu, brother of the former King Garmadon."

Both brother and sister gasped in shock at this. "No way!" Kai cried. "You're unrecognizable! I thought you had a long beard!"

"Yeah, and I thought you were missing!" Nya gasped.

Wu motioned his hands for them both to settle down before somebody comes along to ask. "Please, keep it quiet. There are people out there that would ransom me to Cyrus Borg without another thought."

"But why would ya be comin' here?" Kai whispered lowly.

"The person I am truly looking for, is you, Kai." Wu smiled. "Kai Smith, I believe you have the fire in you. You just need to control it. Come with me, and I will train you to become the ninja of fire."

Kai and Nya both looked bewildered. "The heck is this ninja of fire stuff?!" Kai exclaimed in confusion and slight anger.

And so Wu launched into the same prophecy he told Lloyd many days ago. He ended by repeating he thought Kai should be the red ninja of fire.

"Uhhhh…I don't think I'm ready to do stuff like that…" Kai muttered. It seemed Wu would have to boost his self-esteem and confidence by a bit.

Wu disagreed. "Yes, you are. You have the potential, but you need the training and experience to master it. I believe in you, Kai Smith. You are the destined ninja of fire, a Chosen One. You cannot run from your destiny."

At this, something in Kai's head clicked. He remembered his dad's last words to him. _Always remember this, Kai,_ he had said. _People will come and try to change what you think is your destiny, and you should allow them to do that. It will be for the better of all of us._ "So dad knew I was a Chosen One all along…" Kai didn't have the confidence to lift his head up, and it fell low, to the point neither Nya nor Wu could see his eyes. He felt betrayed, as if his dad should've told him this if he had known. But in his heart, Kai knew he was right, and he shouldn't be angry for what his dad didn't do, but be happy for all that he _did_ do.

Kai had a change in heart and mind. "Fine. I accept my destiny to become a Chosen One to protect the green ninja and help defeat the Overlord. I will become the red ninja of fire." he said with fierce determination.

Nya looked horrified. "You actually believe him?!" she pointed at Wu. "How do you know he's not lying? What if this Overlord guy doesn't exist? WHAT IF HE WANTS TO KILL YOU?!" Nya yelled at the end.

Wu looked surprisingly calm. "If I wanted to kill him, I would've done so."

Nya snorted. "An old man like you wouldn't kill him, not when he has me and many weapons by his side."

"And I have many secrets within me, ones your weapons wouldn't help against."

"Nya, enough," Kai stated firmly. "I'm going to go with him, and if it all a lie, then I'll deal with him then."

Wu looked happy at this. He knew Kai would have no reason to kill him, because he wasn't lying. Wu was being 100% genuine.

Nya looked reluctantly at her brother and Wu. "Fine," she grumbled. "If you get killed, don't blame me."

Kai smiled. "Don't worry, nothing will happen to me." To Wu, he said, "When do we leave?"

"Get your bags ready by morning. We're leaving at the crack of dawn."

Kai sighed and groaned in one. "Great. Another ride just after I came back from my last one. Oh well. I'll do as you say…uh…what should I call ya?"

"You can now call me Sensei Wu," Wu replied with a big smile, feeling accomplished that he convinced one of the four Chosen Ones to come with him.

* * *

 **First off: HAHAHAHAHA WU WITHOUT HIS BEARD! But that was kind of mandatory to change his appearance to not be recognized, along with his name.**

 **...I also made a profile at last, if you want to read that go ahead. Doesn't have much because I don't know what to write there.**

 **Hope you liked it!**


	10. Green and Red Meet

**So I am very sorry for the long wait, for any who read this story! I said this in the most recent chapter I posted in A Tale of Destiny, and I'll say it here as well. I kind of lost interest, but I don't want to keep you people hanging because I think this story will be pretty cool once it gets going, which is after all the ninja are found. It'll probably end up with lots of plotting, betrayals, and politics, like Game of Thrones.**

 **Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 9: Green and Red Meet

Kai and now Sensei Wu left early, right at the start of dawn like Wu had said. "So where's the carriage?" Kai asked the old man.

Wu had a hint of a smile on his face. "What carriage?"

Kai stopped walking. "Wait. Ya don't mean to tell me we're walking all the way, right?"

Wu pretended to think for a moment. "Well, yes, I do mean to tell you that." When the to-be ninja of fire groaned, Wu chuckled.

"Where we headed?" Kai asked.

Wu looked around like he was looking for something. "Hm? A house of the royal family. Garmadon, Misako, and I had it built a while ago."

"You seem to release a lot of personal information," Kai mused. "Don't you feel scared out here by yourself, knowin' who you actually are?"

Wu smiled. "This is the same thing Lloyd asked me before I left to find you."

Kai's eyes bulged. "Lloyd, as in Prince Lloyd? He's there too?"

Wu nodded.

"That's awesome!" he crowed. "I'll become famous next to you guys, and our blacksmith shop will go through the roof!"

"And why do you think that?"

"'Cause bein' with two bigshots must mean you've got some good metals somewhere, right?"

Wu thought for a moment. "Now that I think about it, no, we don't. I don't believe so."

He sighed. "Well, there goes my dream. Try not to ruin it next time, please."

Wu smiled again. Kai was actually quite fun to talk to. He thought he'd turn out to be a hothead like Wu had expected. "What did you bring the sword for? It looks like you're ready to kill someone."

Kai shook his head. "Naw, a lotta people carry around their swords, so I thought I would too."

Wu tilted his head. "Really? I never see people in Ninjago City do that."

"'Cause that place is probably hella tight on swords and the like," he said. "They probably think it's a threat to the king."

Wu was impressed by how clever and intelligent Kai was considering he lived in a small town like Ignacia. Perhaps Wu got a better bargain than he was looking for…

Kai studied the old man. "I been to Highmont a lot before. Friends with King Howard."

Wu lifted his head up like an "ohhh" moment. "That makes more sense. Is it very regulated there about swords too?"

Kai leaned in. "What? Regulated? What's that mean?"

Wu chuckled lightly. Townspeople. "I mean, is it 'tight' on swords in Highmont too? I've never been there, so I'm curious."

Kai thought for a moment, but then he shook his head. "So long as you don't seem like a mad fool, I think you're fine. Robbers are commonplace over there, and I'm guessing so in Ninjago City as well."

After a few minutes of silence, Kai spoke up. "We're headed west, right?"

Wu nodded. "Yes. Northwest, to be precise. Then I will look for the ninja of lightning, and eventually, the other two ninja."

* * *

Sir Jay was now training under another knight. This one, Sir Graham Raymes, was just as gruff as Sir Julian. Sir Graham made Jay work even harder than ever, far more than any other knight he knows. His training was rigorous, which involved lots of bruising because he faced dummies a lot more advanced than he was. Sir Jay hated that the stupid robot is a better knight than he is.

He had heard in one of the few royal dinners he gets to go to that Cyrus Borg had killed nearly 200 people in the Ninjago City army because they did not swear loyalty to him. "That man needs to die!" someone in the dinner shouted.

King Robert himself agreed, but he knew there was no way he could take out Cyrus' army by himself. He would need the help of all the other kings in the other Kingdoms as well.

"This man, Cyrus, just wants to start a war," Jay bitterly told himself as he was watching the squires practice. "And I'm going to end up dying in it."

Cyrus had been bothering Jay since Sir Julian's death. The man had come to the castle at the perfect time. But how did he know King Garmadon died so quickly? He said he lived between the Northern and Eastern Kingdoms his whole life, so there was no way he could've known by himself. There had to be a spy, someone that was in the Central Kingdom at the time, perhaps even the poisoner himself…

An idea came to Jay to tell King Robert, but if he said that to the king, he might sound like a fool. Something like that must've been common knowledge to many people. He would need to try doing something else to get the king's attention, hopefully so he could get rid of Sir Graham. It had only been a few days with him, but he already hated him quicker than it took to hate Sir Julian Carter.

"Sir Jay, it's time to start your daily training!" the gruff voice that belonged to Sir Graham yelled out.

"Great, he just loves abusing his power over me," Sir Jay muttered to himself. At least Sir Graham couldn't hear that because he was out of earshot, else that would mean double training. But nobody could escape Sir Graham's voice. Can't miss it.

And so, Sir Jay had to obey like the good knight he is and did his training which included sparring with the dummy at medium level (still far too hard for him), many exercises, and finally, guarding an entrance of the big wall that surrounds the city of Freyport. The name of the city was pretty obvious, really. It was right at the edge of land, next to the Endless Ocean, and there was a massive port located in the city, the biggest in Ninjago. After all, the Western Kingdom is the most trade-centered place in all of Ninjago, and it has the highest standard of living of all the Kingdoms too. Contrary to popular belief, Ninjago City isn't filled with wealthy people like everyone thinks. There are some wealthy families, some middle-class, and the rest are poor. Unfortunately, that is the reality in Ninjago City: a family is either wealthy or poor. There is very little middle ground.

Once Sir Jay was done his training, he was sent to the port for guarding duty. _This isn't what a knight is supposed to do…this is meant for guards! I should be jousting about now!_ Unfortunately for him, knights are supposed to protect their Kingdom, and Sir Jay was doing just that.

"Bring in the ale!" he heard one man shout. Hundreds of deals are made at the port every hour, and the black market traders come out in the middle of the night to do their business. Sir Jay never bothered with the black market traders and their shady deals. They would always exist somewhere, no matter how hard they tried to get rid of them.

After some hours where Sir Jay only had to question one person because he was rolling in some things Sir Jay thought were illegal (but turns out they were not), he headed back to the castle. _At least I get a nice place to eat and sleep…_ he reflected on his life.

* * *

After many days of walking, Wu and Kai made it to Wu's secret house. "So is it just Lloyd in there right now? Or is Queen Misako in there as well?"

"Misako is not queen anymore," Wu reminded him.

Kai's face darkened. "But I won't call Cyrus Borg my main king."

Wu nodded with a hint of a smile. Inside, however, he was very pleased to have pick Kai. Now, as long as Lloyd doesn't tell him…

Wu opened the door and led Kai inside the house.

"Wowie, this is bigger than I thought!" he exclaimed once he got a good look of the inside.

"Oh, you're back…" a bored voice said from inside somewhere. Then someone who looked to be about Kai's age with blond hair and some green clothes popped out. "AGH! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR BEARD?" he shouted. "And who's that?" he asked a bit aggressively, noticing Kai.

Wu sighed. "Lloyd, I thought you would know that as a Prince, and a Prince known to be missing, I would need to change my appearance."

"Is that…Prince Lloyd?" Kai asked. Lloyd raised an eyebrow.

Wu nodded. "Yes, that is my nephew. Lloyd, this is Kai, the to-be ninja of fire."

Lloyd snorted. "You make it sound like he's soon to-be groom or something."

Kai could tell Lloyd was getting a bit edgy, but he decided not to ask. Family matters should remain as family matters, he had always thought, although this may not be a family matter.

"Why don't you two get to know each other a bit better while I'm gone?" Wu asked nicely. He knew Lloyd was angry at him, so he would have to remain nice and calm.

Lloyd shrugged. "Sure. Let's sit down."

"Where ya going?" Kai asked Wu. To Lloyd, Kai's way of speaking came across as rude, but he didn't really care because it was to his uncle.

"To find the ninja of lightning, in the Western Kingdom."

Kai looked happy. "Never been out there. In fact, I've never been outside the Southern Kingdom."

Lloyd sighed. "Yeah, yeah, it's okay, he'll be back after he finds all these ninja."

Now Kai raised an eyebrow at the destined green ninja. He was acting quite weird for a royal family member…

"Um, well, thanks for bringing me here…uh, what was I supposed to call you?" the young blacksmith asked.

"Sensei Wu," Wu replied.

"Yeah, Sensei Wu…" the word sounded funny to Kai, and he lightly chuckled at himself.

"Okay, then, I'll be back soon! Hopefully…" he murmured. To Lloyd, he said, "Look after Kai as well, Lloyd."

Lloyd probably heard, but he made no action to show that he did. "S'okay, I can handle myself."

Wu nodded and bowed his head. He left and closed the door behind him.

Kai followed in the direction Lloyd had went and found he was sitting on a rocking chair, head up and eyes closed. "Why don't your uncle stay for a bit? He just got back."

Lloyd shrugged. "I don't really care where he goes."

There was a moment of silence. "Why do you sound kinda…angry at him?"

Lloyd stopped the chair from moving and hesitated. He definitely didn't want to tell this…stranger about what his uncle Wu did, so he had to think of a lie quickly. "When Cyrus attacked during my dad's funeral, he got my mom, but my uncle told me we should go. He left my mom there, and now who knows what that robot-freak did with her. I'm angry at him because of that." It wasn't even a lie. Lloyd did hate Wu for that, but that wasn't the main reason.

Kai gritted his teeth. "Must've been hard on ya." He had nothing else to say.

Lloyd was a bit annoyed with the way Kai spoke. But then again, he probably came from some small town with no formal education. Meanwhile, Lloyd was a born prince, with everything he'd ever want…

"Where are you from?" Lloyd asked.

"Ignacia," he replied. "Small town. Y'know where Highmont is? King Howard's castle? It's kinda south of that. A lot more south. I work as a blacksmith there, after my dad died"

Of course Lloyd knew about Highmont, but he had only been there once, when he was a boy. Now that he thought about it, he had been to every king's castle in Ninjago at least once. He and Prince Zane up in Strongwynne were good friends, and saw each other about every other month. He and Princess Zenia in the isolated, hidden Havenhollow city were also friends. He remembered her now, considered by some to be one of the most beautiful young women in Ninjago, with her voice that sounded as sweet and fair as…

"Lloyd? Lloyd!" Kai snapped in front of the green ninja's face.

He shot back up and noticed Kai looking at him cautiously. "Uh…sorry. Got lost in some thoughts…" He paused. "You work as a blacksmith?"

Kai nodded. "Yup. I save up every piece of gold I make. Not a lot of business nowadays..." He paused as well. "So, what ninja are you?"

"I'm…the green ninja…" he sounded almost ashamed.

Kai's eyes widened. "That's so cool! You're the hero Ninjago will need soon!"

Lloyd looked disgusted. "I hope you know this isn't some walk through a flower garden. Sounds like real danger, unless this whole thing was just some stupid lie…"

Kai had never thought of the danger part. He thought of doing his duty, and travelling and exploring Ninjago. "So, what's life in Ninjago City like? Must be awesome, right?"

Lloyd thought about Ninjago City, outside of the castle. "It's bad. An elitist society where the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and really only the rich get any attention. The few people in the middle class are either servants in the castle or soldiers in the army, but they have a ton of pressure on them because they get hated on by the rich and poor. Crime and corruption has gone up in the last few years, and my dad did nothing about it. He just let it happen. It's not the dream city people think it is, I know that."

* * *

 **Lots of insight about what Ninjago City is like. It's definitely not as good as here as it is in the show :p**

 **Lloyd learns of what Kai's life is like. Although Kai's life is pretty decent, Lloyd doesn't think of it highly (of course he wouldn't). Cole's life is worse, so we'll see what Lloyd thinks when he learns of what his life was like...**

 **Hope you liked it!**


	11. Five Ones

**I updated after a loooong time, but I hope it's at least a bit worth the wait. Unfortunately, I have some bad news: this will be my last chapter in this story. For a long time. I just want to give my full focus on A Tale of Destiny which I am farther into and I PROMISE I will get back to this story once it is done. That may not be for a while, considering there is still a lot left (probably only halfway), but this story will be back in some months (lol, long time). It's definitely going to get much better than right now once it really picks up, which, to be quite honest, could even be the next chapter, but that's why this is a good time to stop. Not much has happened yet, but the stuff to come will be good.**

 **Hope you like this last chapter (for a while)!**

* * *

Chapter 10: Five Ones

Kai and Lloyd had been training for months. Wu hadn't returned even once since he left to go to the Western Kingdom to find the third Chosen One, the blue ninja of lightning.

Kai came down to have breakfast. "Heya Lloyd," he greeted the green ninja the same way he had done for the past few months. "When d'ya think your uncle Wu will come back?"

Lloyd groaned. The red ninja had been asking the same questions forever, and Lloyd had been giving him the same answers. "My _uncle_ is also your Sensei," he snapped for what seemed like the thousandth time.

"Yea, while that is true, he's not around much. Or, at all, y'know?"

Lloyd sighed. Kai had been fun at first, a good break from all the seriousness of the castle, but it was getting annoying now. A lot of the times, he repeated himself…everyday, so one could imagine hearing the same thing everyday would get annoying. Kai would mention everyday that Wu wasn't around. He sighed again. "Let's just do some training…"

They headed to an empty room in the large building. They started off with exercises, like they had been since the beginning of their training. However, the kind of training they did then was much easier than it was now. They had become 'masters of training' as Kai had once put it, and the two had a good laugh, but Lloyd knew they would have lots more to train for.

After a few more stretches, they got into a fighting stance and would spar against each other. Both of the young ninja had gotten significantly faster thanks to their training, and all they did during this sparring time was try to push the other person while trying to defend yourself. Then it got more serious: they put on some protective equipment and fought each other with various swords. They have used every single sword at least once in the past month alone. Sometimes, they would pick up a sword when they were bored and practice alone, and sometimes with the dummies the house has.

After sparring with the equipment, they ran around outside the house for a stamina test. In this Kai usually beats Lloyd, while the green ninja was able to beat Kai in the fighting aspects of their training. Halfway in their run, they heard noise coming through the forest, and it sounded like people.

The ninja, being curious, crept up slowly and cautiously to the trees. It became very silent, until someone yelled a battle cry they had never heard. Two people, dressed in blue and white, jumped out from behind the trees and tackled Kai and Lloyd to the ground. A third in black was coming from a different direction.

"Punch them in the face!" the one in black shouted, and it seemed the blue and white ones were ready to oblige.

"BANDITS!" Lloyd shouted and pushed the white-clothed guy off of him. Kai followed and kicked off the blue one.

"Zane! You should've punched him!" the blue guy screamed at the white guy.

"I was trying to, Jay," the one known as Zane replied. "But I am not ready to fight yet."

The one now known as Jay did a facepalm. "Cole, attack them!"

The one in black, now known as Cole, ran into Kai and kept pushing until Kai was pushed into Lloyd. All three fell on the ground.

While everyone was grunting, Jay took the opportunity to run at Lloyd and strike him, but seeing this, the green ninja rolled out of the way, and Kai stuck out his hand from under Cole to trip Jay. Jay indeed tripped, and fell face first. Next, Kai pushed Cole while Lloyd tried yanking him off. Together, the two got him off of the red ninja. Zane came from behind to attack Lloyd on the shoulder.

"OW!" he yelped and rubbed his bruising left shoulder. He glowered at Zane. It was at that moment he realized who it was. "Zane! Prince Zane Julien! Why are you with these two bandits?!"

Zane didn't reply. Instead, Kai did a stealth attack from the side and knocked Zane down. Eventually, the three "bandits" got up and surrounded the duo. Zane charged at Lloyd, but Lloyd jumped up, wrapped his arms around his head, and tossed him backward. Meanwhile, Jay came for Kai, but the Chosen One of Fire stepped a bit to the side, swept him off his feet, picked him up, and threw him at the incoming Cole. The two fell down, and it seemed like Jay crushed Cole's face.

"Well done, nephew and pupil," a familiar voice said from behind the trees. When Lloyd looked around furiously, Wu stepped out and showed himself. "That was merely a test to see how strong you two have gotten over the months. Quite a while, no?"

Lloyd was getting even more furious, while Kai smiled at Wu. "You CHEAT!" Lloyd shouted at Wu. "You sent these guys after us?"

"It was a test," Wu repeated. "And for your information, they are the Chosen Ones of Lightning, Ice, and Earth."

Kai looked at the three, still on the ground like they liked it. "Ya mean these are the ninja guys we train with?"

"Are going to train with," Wu corrected. "I would've been back about a month ago with them, but we did training of our own."

"Well, good thing you didn't," Lloyd grumbled and stormed off inside. Wu sighed. Even after being gone so long, his nephew still didn't seem to care about him. _Serves me right,_ the old man thought bitterly. _After what I did, I deserve the hatred. Does Kai know?_ he wondered.

He decided to head in as well, and called the other ninja with him.

"Why do I sense that Prince Lloyd has some sort of resentment against you, Prince Wu?" Zane asked the old man.

"I am not Prince and neither is Lloyd," Wu told him. "Here, I go by Sensei, and he goes by Lloyd."

When Zane didn't respond, Wu cracked the tiniest smile. He successfully diverted the topic.

Inside, Lloyd yelled at Zane. "Why didn't you say anything if you knew it was me? You should've said something! It was almost like I didn't see you had the face of a good friend of mine!"

Zane stayed silent for a while. "I was told not to tell you by your uncle."

Then it was Lloyd's turn to be silenced.

"So, if you two friends are done 'meeting up' or whatever, how exactly do we train here?" Jay asked Lloyd and Kai.

Kai was about to speak, but the green ninja beat him to it. "Kai and I started off with stretches, then sparring, then sparring with equipment, and then running. That was our training everyday. Some days, we used the training course."

The blue ninja narrowed his eyebrows. "What training course? I don't see any."

"There's a button for it," Lloyd assured him. "I'll show it later."

"Advanced technology, I see," the white ninja mused.

Lloyd glared at him. "Says you! You're a robot!"

"Huh? What's a robot?" Cole asked.

"It's a…mechanical human?" After thinking of the answer, Lloyd realized he didn't really know what a robot was himself.

Cole licked his lips, and Zane was aware of that. "No, Lloyd! You shouldn't have told him!"

"Why not?"

"Now he wants to break me to check for wood!"

"Check for w-?" Before he could finish, Cole jumped at Zane, but being a robot, he knew it would happen, so he got up just in time and ran, while the black ninja chased him.

"This is two of our new members?" Kai asked glumly. The other two ninja nodded. "So, Jay, where ya from?"

"I'm from the castle at Freyport." When Kai gave him a blank stare, he added, "You know, the castle of King Robert?"

Kai slowly nodded when he mentioned King Robert's name. "Yea, I remember King Howard once sayin' something about King Robert."

 _Who is this guy?_ Jay wondered. "What'd King Howard say?" is what the blue ninja actually said aloud.

The red ninja shrugged. "I can't remember, it was a good while back."

"So, where you from?" Jay asked Kai.

"Town of Ignacia, Southern Kingdom," he replied proudly.

Jay nodded his head, although he had never heard of it. "Not a big town, is it?"

Kai shook his head for a no. "Yea, you're right. Not many people, but I get some pretty good business most days."

"So you're a businessman? At this age? Trader? Merchant?" Jay pestered with questions.

"Nope, none'a those. I'm a blacksmith. I run the Four Weapons Shop with my sister. My dad opened it up when he was…still here."

Jay could only guess that "still here" meant "still alive." Regardless, he was a bit disappointed that Kai was only a blacksmith.

"What do ya do at King Robert's castle anyway?" the red ninja asked him.

"Oh, I'm a…lower knight." He lowered his head, ashamed.

Lloyd slapped him. "What do you mean 'lower knight'? Knights are amazing, and they're not low!" _Not like my uncle…_ he thought.

Jay laughed without humour while rubbing his cheek where he got slapped. "I am a low knight. I'm not good. I still train under some other oaf who makes me do more work that even a farmer doesn't have to do during a bad year. It's ridiculous!"

"Yea, but it's probably cool, bein' high-up and stuff right?" Kai asked. "Higher than a blacksmith like me, that's fo' sure."

"But it's not like being a Prince," Jay motioned to Lloyd and Zane, still escaping Cole.

Lloyd's face darkened. "You don't what it's like to be a Prince."

"What's it like?" Jay asked, curious to hear the answer.

"There's too much expectation. You may think we do nothing, Sir Jay, but that's not reality," Lloyd ranted. "We do more work than the King of Queen. Often times, we have to listen during open talk where people from all over come and complain about something. Then they look at me like I'm the answer to their problems. Well, I'm not! I'm the listener to their problems! I can't solve them! That's the King's job, or someone more experienced! Then they beg me to help and I do what I can, but for those I can't? What do I do? Send them back for another day or week or month to deal with the problem?!"

The house went silent after his rant. Cole had also stopped chasing Zane, or so it seemed for the moment. "So, tell me, is it good to be a Prince? I feel bad for those I couldn't help, and that's most of them. My father, King Garmadon, wouldn't even care half the time."

Jay was speechless. "I-I had no idea it was like that. You win."

Lloyd shook his head. "I'm not talking about winning. I'm talking about principle. I do what I can to help the people, but my father never cared enough to fully help them. _He's_ the one who was capable and had the power. Ordering some doctor to give a cure for some disease: he can do that, not me. A town with little water. He can help them, not me. I didn't have the power to order around people, being young and all. This is why when I become King of Ninjago, I will listen to each and every one of them, like my grandfather, the First Spinjitzu Master did. Cyrus doesn't care about anything. My uncle told me that. He just wants power, and he's the most powerful man in Ninjago. He can order anyone anyway he pleases, and he has a massive army to enforce it and make sure it happens. Good thing Central Kingdom its own Kingdom and doesn't have the power to order other kings to step down…"

Kai stood up and clapped for Lloyd, leaving the older boy stunned. Jay joined in, and out of nowhere, Zane and Cole also started clapping for him.

"Good speech, Prince Lloyd," Kai told him with a smile.

"Indeed. You will make a fine King one day, Lloyd," Zane smiled at him.

"If you want to change Ninjago, ninja, then you must train first to deal with the obstacles that will come your way," an older voice said. It was Wu. "Training starts today. No exceptions."

And so, the five ninja trained together for the first time. While they trained, they found out each other's strengths. Lloyd was fast and strong. Kai had stamina and endurance. Zane was fast and smart. Jay had plenty of experience in fighting, with or without equipment. Cole was just hugely strong, but quite lacking in any speed, stealth, or brains.

 _Hm, maybe this team won't be so bad after all…_ Lloyd thought to himself.

* * *

 **Yes, Lloyd is older than the other ninja on purpose. His parents are old, after all. It makes sense because Garmadon doesn't just disappear and become evil like he does in the show.**

 **I am soooooo sorry if you read and like this story, but I want to finish my other story first, which undoubtedly has a bigger audience at this point. Anyways, hope you liked it! "See" you soon (hopefully)!**


	12. The Journey Begins

**I said I wouldn't update this much in the last chapter of A Tale Of Destiny. That is true. The updates for this story will periodic, which depends on when I have time and motivation to write it. Due to this, this story will take very long to finish - and it may never finish either, unfortunately. However, I do want to make an effort at completing this story. Lol...I hope people still read this story. Hope you like this chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 11: The Journey Begins

It had been a month since Jay, Cole, and Zane joined Kai and Lloyd in their training. By this time, each of the five ninja (yes, they were ninja now, according to their Sensei Wu) had mastered the training course and performed Spinjitzu.

 _Maybe it's about time we head out in search of the Golden Weapons,_ Wu thought to himself. It was almost lunch time because the ninja had just finished their training for the day. Wu thought they were ready to go on a hunt around Ninjago. It would take several months to find all the Golden Weapons, no doubt. They were scattered around in each of the four kingdoms.

They ate a quick lunch and during this lunch, Wu decided to break the news to them. "My pupils," he began. "I think it is time we leave in search for your Golden Weapons. It will take months to find them all, which is why the sooner we start, the sooner you can begin training with them."

His nephew rolled his eyes and groaned. "Does that mean we're going to be camping out every night for the next few months?" His uncle simply nodded.

Zane put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Don't worry, Lloyd. Cole, Jay, Sensei Wu, and I all did that for the months we were out before we got here."

The green ninja shrugged like he didn't care. "I'm used to living in royalty. So are you, Zane. This house is big but it's obviously a stepdown from castle life. Living in the middle of nowhere for so many months…sounds even worse."

"Would you rather stay here, alone, for that long of a time?" Wu asked him.

Lloyd hadn't thought about that. He didn't _have_ to go. After all, there was no weapon for him to use except his own powers. But if he didn't go, it'd be terribly lonely in this house with no company. He might as well go and make the best of it. "I didn't think of that, but I think staying here alone is the worst of all options." Wu smiled and nodded his head in agreement.

"When do we leave?" Jay asked, excited to go on an adventure.

Wu paused for a moment. "Tomorrow morning. Spend the rest of the day preparing for our leave. I trust that you know what to take."

"Any horses or carriages that we'll get?" Kai asked hopefully.

Wu smiled once again. "I don't think so. We have no horses here, nor any carriages. If we get one, it'll have at be to the closest place to here, which could be anywhere."

"We could go to Ignacia and get some, but it's not like I know where we are right now," Kai suggested sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Not a great idea, I know."

"I can take some coins, and hopefully we can find something to our liking on the way," Sensei Wu told the ninja. The ninja nodded, and without any further instruction, they began packing what they needed to take.

* * *

The next morning came rather quickly. "Now, I hope you five realize that anything you take will have to be carried by you," Wu told them before they left. "If you want to leave anything here, now is your chance." When nobody moved to put something away, he continued on. "Then let us leave. First, we will go to the Southern Kingdom and find the Sword of Fire. It is located at the Fire Temple, which is in the northern part of the Kingdom."

Everyone nodded, mentally preparing themselves to be ready for this journey. They had physically prepared a lot, and they could definitely carry the weight they were taking with them. How long they could carry it, they would soon find out.

And so the five ninja and Sensei Wu set out. They left the house and went down a path…not any specific one that they knew, but it would take them in he general direction they were headed. "This journey will teach you many skills," Wu told them. "Learning how to use a map like I am, or how to cook, or other…camping skills that you need for survival out here."

Lloyd was pretty bored of his uncle's talk and quickly zoned out. He was still really mad at his uncle, even months after the death of his father, but forgiving a criminal act like that…that wouldn't happen anytime soon.

"You'll also learn how to best use the resources you have available," Wu continued. "Be careful, however: you should prepare yourself for the lack of food and water you'll have over these next few months. It may be a while until you see any civilization, but it may come as soon as tomorrow."

"Don't ya know these lands around here?" Cole asked the old man.

"Sadly, I do not. It's been a long time since I last visited this house, and every time, I end up coming from a different path than the last. Different paths lead you to cross different places."

They continued walking down the general path. They stopped for the night. Ate their dinner. Camped out. And then they repeated this the next day, and the next day, and the next day, until they eventually reached a city.

The six of them got to this city (which they found out was Fairwick, city of Lord Soren) without any trouble. They walked for almost three weeks to get this far, and they hadn't seen a single soul since then.

Fairwick was quite a large city, far bigger than Ignacia, according to Kai. Lord Soren was a man around King Howard's age, so not too old.

"Yes! Finally, we're at civilization!" Jay was so very happy.

Wu nodded in agreement with the blue ninja. "Unfortunately, we cannot stay here for long. We must leave quickly. The less time we spend here, the less chance of someone discovering our identities."

"Does anybody have any acquaintances in this city?" Zane asked his group. Everyone shook their head for a no. "Kai, not even you?"

"Nah, I don't do business with anyone from this city," he told them sadly.

"Then we must find a place where we can stay for a day or two, and then leave," Sensei Wu told them. "We have enough gold to stay at an inn. Perhaps we can also learn what has happened in the past few months that we've been isolated from the world."

The five ninja nodded. Learning what had happened in the previous months was definitely a good idea so they were updated with the news.

The six of them walked into the closest inn, which seemed fine for them from the outside, and found that the lobby was hustling and very crowded. Nobody seemed to be in line, so they took the opportunity to get a room or two for the night. The woman at the desk didn't pay much mind to the six, taking them for ordinary travellers from some other part of the Kingdom or another Kingdom entirely.

"How can I help you?" she asked with half-closed eyes, clearly very bored of her job.

"We're wondering how many beds each room has," Jay told the woman, being nominated as the one to talk to her. "So we know how many rooms to get."

"Two beds in each room, but each bed is only for one person," she said with a bored voice.

Jay looked back at the others and they all agreed silently that they should get two rooms. "We'd like two rooms, please."

"You have two options: room 114 and 229, or 229 and 236. Which one do you want? Same price regardless."

"We'll take 229 and 236. Same floor, that's why," he added at the end in case the woman cared as to why. However, she didn't.

"That'll be 80 gold per room per night you stay here," she continued talking in her unenthusiastic voice. Jay nodded at the price. He fished out some coins that Wu had given beforehand and handed it to her. It was for 160 gold, which meant he had paid for a night.

 _80 gold…that means the room will be…"okay",_ Wu thought to himself about what he had just given gold for. That was fine. It beats staying in the wilderness every night.

After the gold had been exchanged, they went and found their rooms by themselves. The two rooms they had gotten were down the hall from each other, so not far at all.

"How are we going to decide who stays at what room?" Zane asked everyone.

"Um…I don't want to be with my uncle…that's just weird…being in the same room as him…" Lloyd murmered slowly.

Zane nodded in understanding. Although he felt something was off between uncle and nephew, he didn't sense that being the reason this time around.

"Lloyd and I already spent a lotta time together without you guys…I'll go to the other room," Kai gave his position on the matter.

Quickly, the ninja decided who will be in each room. It was Kai, Cole, and Wu in one room with Zane, Jay, and Lloyd in the other.

After they had set up their rooms to their liking, everyone went to Wu's room for a quick meeting. "Now, the less time we spend here, the better. The longer we stay, the more chance for someone to find out our real identities, and you never know what kind of people are here in this city. Please, nobody tell anyone of our identities, especially mine and Lloyd's. There will be many people who would ransom us to Cyrus Borg. Lloyd, I think you and I should stay in our rooms. Zane, is it safe for you to go out?"

The white ninja, who was wearing regular clothes that didn't make him look like a ninja, wondered to himself if it was a wise idea to go out. "I could definitely get a lot of information, but now that you mention it, Sensei, I am not sure if it is a good idea to try. I could get ransomed as well."

Wu nodded. "Then the three of us will stay here. Jay, Kai, Cole: try not to cause any trouble here."

The three ninja nodded. Kai and Cole were uncertain about how much information they could get. Cole was anti-social, even amongst the ninja, and Kai didn't know anyone here and didn't have much confidence to try and talk to anyone. Jay seemed sure that he'd be able to find something useful here. He was a knight; he had dealt with multiple types of people over the years since his training began.

The red, black, and blue ninja left the inn and began scouring the city in search for any helpful information.

"How do we know who to ask?" the red ninja asked the blue ninja, who seemed to be very familiar with this type of stuff.

"The usual cart owners won't know anything. You have to find the people in the back alleys, hiding behind buildings for the best information," Jay answered to him. "But those people are dangerous, so maybe we should go to the news stands instead."

They walked and went over to the first news stand they found. Cole grabbed the first paper he saw and looked at it. "Can't read this." He handed the paper over to Kai, who could read some of the words, but not all. He handed it to Jay, who read the whole thing.

"There's a bad virus going around in Central," the blue ninja said aloud. The man who ran the stand peered at them intently.

"That ain't free. It costs 50 silver if you want it," he told them suspiciously, as if they were to run away with that paper.

Jay fished around in his pocket and took out some coins. He counted 4 silver coins, which meant it was 40 silver. He sighed and pulled out another coin, another silver one. He looked at the man and tossed it on the ledge of the stand and continued reading the news. The man hurriedly picked up the 5 silver coins as if Kai or Cole were going to take it back.

The three ninja began walking away from the news stand and walked to someplace quiet: a small alley. "Nobody knows where this virus originated from. It started in Central, that's all they know. A cure is in the works by…Cyrus Borg! That makes this quite a lot easier to understand, knowing how he is."

"Y'know Cyrus?" the red ninja questioned curiously.

The blue ninja looked up. "No, not at all. I was at King Garmadon's funeral when he showed up. He seemed pretty sinister."

"Sinister? What's that word?" the black ninja asked, not having much education.

"He seemed pretty…bad, to put it in simple terms," Jay explained patiently. "Anyways, I have a feeling Cyrus introduced this virus, and now he's going to give out a cure for money or something else of good value. What a disgusting man!"

"Is there any news of riots or anything?" the fire ninja asked.

The lightning ninja scanned the paper. "Yeah. In Ninjago City. 24 people were killed by the robots Cyrus has, and another 34 were injured. The leaders of the riot are nowhere to be found."

"Anything else?" the earth ninja asked him impatiently. Cole wanted to hear some _juicy_ information.

"Uh, it seems King Zedwin expressed his hatred for Cyrus openly – there's an article about that. Not the best idea, but I think he can defend his own kingdom."

"You guys want information about the world?" a voice from behind them said. Of course. They were in an alley, so obviously someone would eavesdrop on them. "Just give me something of equal value, and I'll give you some. I deal in gold, mostly."

The three ninja turned around and saw a man with short black hair and ragged clothes. He had a stick or something of the sort in his mouth. He didn't look to be much older than the ninja themselves.

"We have a newspaper, why do we need to talk to you?" the blue ninja asked threateningly. He had dealt with hundreds of these types of guys back at the castle in Freyport.

He shrugged and put up his hands at the same time. "Woah, don't get so aggressive, I ain't tryna hurt you guys. If you want info, I can give you some, but at a price."

"How do we know we can trust ya?" the fire ninja asked suspiciously.

"I have contacts all over Ninjago, believe me," he told them quietly. "You three don't seem like the type to tell, so I'll tell you: I'm Trips, the leader of Fair Wicked. Ever heard of us?" he asked with a sly smile.

Jay shook his head. "No. We don't live here." He was careful not to mention that they were travellers – although saying that they don't live in Fairwick means they're from elsewhere, it forces the other man to think of that himself.

"We're a gang – the biggest and most feared one in Fairwick. I have members in all five Kingdoms of Ninjago. Still don't believe me?"

The lightning ninja smiled on the inside. _These_ were the kinds of guys to talk to. Jay had hoped he would run into one of them. Sure, they probably do illegal stuff, and as a knight and a ninja, Jay should take care of that, but he figured the information would be more useful.

"What do you know? Any recent news you found out about?" he demanded of the man.

Trips laughed. "What makes you think you're in the position to demand of me? I can call some members of my gang, have you killed, and nobody will ever know what happened to you three. Show some respect!" he barked angrily.

Jay remained calm, although Kai and Cole got worried that things might get ugly. They really hoped Jay didn't blow their cover and reveal that the three of them were ninja. "Well, what do you want for your news?"

Trips smiled. "Now you're talking. I'd say…maybe…1000 gold?"

"That's a lot to ask for…for some words from a gang lord like you," the blue ninja said calmly. Jay took out all the coins he had in his pocket. He had 650 gold and 770 silver. "650 gold and 770 silver. Is that enough to satisfy you?"

He nodded, and took the money carefully. "Now, let me give you some news…"

* * *

 **This guy, Trips, has information that the three ninja might want. What that is, they don't know quite yet. What if it causes trouble for the ninja and they get attacked by the gang?**

 **Once again, there will be periodic updates at random times for this story. Thanks for reading!**


	13. Fair Wicked

**Surprisingly, another chapter. That was fast. I was motivated after posting the last one, so I felt like putting up another. There's (finally) a fight in this story - around halfway through this chapter. Anyways, hope you like it!**

 **Cheesepuff: if you're reading this, Lloyd is a few years older than the rest of the ninja. I don't think it was ever stated how old the ninja are, so whatever age you think they are, add around 5 years and that's Lloyd's age in this story.**

* * *

Chapter 12: Fair Wicked

"Now let me give you some news. A week or so ago, one of my members said he saw six men walking through the woods. One of them looked similar to Prince Lloyd; perhaps _too_ similar. However, since there were six of them and only one of him, he didn't attack. Clearly, he would've lost that. And since it was rumoured that Lloyd was taken with his uncle, Prince Wu, the old man with those six could be inferred as him, although it didn't look like him."

The three ninja were shook from the inside, but they remained as calm and sane as possible on the outside so as to not get captured by this gang lord for being suspected as one of those six men.

"You mentioned something about a virus, and that Cyrus is behind it," Trips pointed at Jay. "You're probably right. I have a feeling that's true as well. He'd do anything for money. Although," he smiled maliciously, "his plan isn't bad in that sense."

Now the three ninja's emotions turned into rage, but they couldn't show it. They didn't know where Trips' men were hiding, and if they were hiding at all. "Down here in the Southern Kingdom, I hear that George Adams, the second in-command to King Howard, is trying to take more control over the South. It's rumoured he's already sent two unauthorized raid parties to stop bandits from attacking small towns and villages. Quite the rebellious one, I'd say."

"Any more news from Ninjago City?" Kai asked Trips.

The man pondered over the question a bit. "It was publicly announced that Cyrus had around 200 more people killed over the past month alone. He shows these number to strike fear."

 _Does a good job it,_ Jay thought bitterly to himself. "Well, that's a lot of information, Trips," he said aloud. "Anything else, or would that cost more gold to get out of you?"

Trips chuckled, obviously quite a fake laugh. "That's all I can tell you with that price. However, watch out: if we find out you turned in and ransomed any of those six men to any lord or king, we will come after you and kill you. That's a farewell warning. Thanks for the talk, gentlemen." Without waiting for the any of the ninja to say anything, he turned around and disappeared into the shadows of the alley.

"That was useful…but also expensive," Cole remarked after he was sure Trips had left.

"And dangerous," Kai added. "Who knows what he could've done?"

Jay just shook his head. "We got lots of information. Let's just go back to the inn." The other two didn't disagree, and together, they headed to the inn.

There, Jay relayed all the information to Wu, Lloyd, and Zane. "It is terribly unfortunate that we were discovered on our way here. I don't think anyone saw a soul during those weeks, besides ourselves." Everyone nodded in agreement. "Also, the fact that this Trips man thinks Cyrus also introduced this virus, and also has a cure for it to make money, is quite disheartening. I can't believe anyone would have the heart to do such a thing."

 _You believed he would make Ninjago a better place, and then you say this?!_ Lloyd thought in his head, bewildered at his uncle's words.

Wu got up. "We should leave here, first thing tomorrow morning. The longer we stay here, the greater the chance we will be discovered."

* * *

And they did leave indeed. They slept the night, checked out, and began to leave the city. They left the gates of the city without any trouble, but the trouble started outside those gates. After a kilometer or so of walking, they were confronted by the gang known as Fair Wicked.

"Well, well, who knew the three guys I overheard yesterday and shared information with would be travelling with Price Lloyd," Trips said in a dangerous tone. "I told you. Try to ransom him, and we will kill you. Out of our way. He's worth 2,000,000 gold." He paused and saw Wu. "That HAS to be Prince Wu, the uncle who ran away with Lloyd. You're also worth 2,000,000. Might as well take two big prizes."

The six men were very scared, and they were also surrounded by many members of the gang, some carrying weapons.

"We're not being ransomed, we're travelling to Highmont to-" he was cut off by his uncle.

"Why would you ransom us? We're worthless. What if we're not who you say we are?" he said in a manipulative voice to try and make them second guess.

Trips shrugged. "That doesn't matter. I think we could go there and find out, anyways." He took two hunting knives out nowhere and held them up. "I don't want to kill you two, but the other four can die."

"What do we do?" Zane whispered.

"We have to kill them, else they'll keep coming for us!" Jay whispered loudly.

"Hey," Trips said loudly and dangerously. "The ones dying are you four. Got that? Unless you have some good bounties on your head as well, that is."

"Kill them," Wu confirmed the plan. "Some fights cannot be ended without resorting to killing. This entire plan of ours…killing is a part of it. We cannot avoid that."

Trips signalled his men to begin the attack.

"NINJA GO!" the six of them shouted and burst into their Spinjitzu, swallowing and spitting out the gang members in various directions. That would definitely not be enough to kill them. Jay, being a knight, was always prepared and brought out a sword. Considering Kai was a blacksmith, he also had a sword with him. Zane brought out a sword as well. A prince had to defend himself. Wu had his staff, and Lloyd had also taken a sword. Cole had nothing but his hands, but he used them well.

Jay effortlessly dodged five attacks in the span of two seconds and returned the attack with a swing of his sword, enough to hurt all the people who tried attacking him. One woman tried stabbing his neck from behind, but Zane noticed this and knocked the knife out of her hand and stabbed her in the arm. She clutched her arm in pain before falling to the ground due to a slash on her upper back from the white ninja as well.

The blue ninja fenced around a bit with one of his attackers before delivering a quick stab to the face. When he wasn't looking, he got punched in the side and almost got his head cut off from the swing of a sword. Luckily, the nindroid was always there to help out, and he kicked the man with the sword away for a bit.

With a hack and a slash, the lightning ninja used his sword masterfully, to the point that even the ice ninja was impressed. Two men in front of Jay slowly fell from those two attacks. It was like the lightning ninja's sword moved faster than the bodies to digest the toll the slashes took on them! Two seconds after the dual attacks, they fell, dead, onto the ground.

Jay flashed his sword once again at another attacker coming towards him. Once again, the sword moved faster than the registering of death on the person. Zane wielded his sword to good effect as well. He cut at someone's throat, and slashed another's legs twice. He used his head and dodged a sword that would've beheaded him, and then headbutted the attacker while they were still trying to reel in their sword. The headbutt was followed by multiple stabs.

Kai got hit by a spiky ball on his ear. It hurt a ton, but he could live through it. He attacked the attacker, who for some reason, could only throw spiky balls at him. The red ninja blocked the balls as well as other attacks and delivered a stab right through the ball throwers' stomach. To make sure he was done, he cut down on the top of the man's head like he was using an axe.

A woman from his side got a poke with her little fencing sword on Kai's left shoulder. Again, it hurt, but not enough. The ninja's durability and endurance had gone up greatly from their training. A surprise stab came from his right as the red ninja got slashed on his right arm, his sword arm. The pain didn't register until Kai moved his arm to attack the woman, but he fought through. A hammer was about to strike him from behind when Sensei Wu came in and smacked the hammer wielder, a man, with his staff on the head. After that, Wu delivered a barrage of other staff attacks and knocked the man unconscious.

Being saved from death, the fire ninja gave his full attention to his two attackers. A stab left and right was enough to fend them off, and Wu knocked the woman off her feet with a hit to her legs. The fire ninja stabbed her through the back a couple of times. Kai turned around and cut off the sword arm of the person who slashed him. With no defense, the man ran away.

Lloyd and Cole were working together. Cole would beat up his enemies quite brutally. One man, he took his head and smashed him onto the ground, immediately sending the man to death. Another man came flying with a sword, shield, and armour, but the black ninja grabbed the hilt of the sword and threw it away, which happened to pierce some other gang member at his side. The armoured man was bigger than Cole, and he tried using his shield to hit the ninja, but the earth ninja stopped it cold. He lifted the shield, and also the man who refused to let go and threw both into a tree. An attacker came from behind him with hunting knives, but Lloyd interfered and stabbed the person down before they got to Cole. The black ninja found another target and simply punched her in the face, knocking her out instantly…forever.

Lloyd cut off someone's axe and repeatedly stabbed them to death. He also slashed away and gave a cut to someone else's chest, followed by a stab through their cut wound.

One by one, the gang members were falling until only Trips was left. The ninja and Wu were relatively unharmed, besides Kai who had been slashed on his right arm. But that could be treated. They had medical supplies which had gone unused thus far.

Trips was tired from fighting Lloyd and Wu together. He didn't land a single hit, but Wu had landed several hits from his staff, while the green ninja managed to graze his hip with the tip of his sword, which definitely slowed down his movements.

"Do you give up? Give up now, and we will spare you." Wu told him fiercely. "You can still be treated. But, promise that you will never tell anyone that we were here, and never hunt us down again."

Panting, Trips stood up tall instead of bending his back in his tired form. "No. I'd rather die here." He spat on the ground and raised his sword. Disappointed, Wu shook his head, closed his eyes, turned around, and walked away.

"I trust that you five will be enough to handle this injured gang lord," he said as he was walking back and the ninja turned and looked at him.

They turned back around and faced Trips, who was still standing there. Zane ran forward and attacked the man, clashing with his sword and Trips' knives. Trips managed to cut off a bit of Zane's clothing, but it didn't touch him.

The white ninja knocked away one of the hunting knives into a tree. Cole wanted to run forward and punch Trips in the face, but Jay, Kai, and Lloyd had to restrain him. They wanted to see how Zane handled it.

The ice ninja kicked his enemies' leg and Trips bent down. He was then kicked by Zane's knee square in the face. "Yeah!" Cole shouted in happiness and satisfaction. "But you shoulda punched him instead…" his voice quickly fell to disappointment.

Zane got a serious wound on Trips by stabbing him through the stomach because he left his entire body open after the kick. If there was someone behind Trips, they would've seen the other end of the sword rip through his back. The nindroid pulled his sword out and saw the big crack it left in the man's body as his body bent backwards and fell. To Zane, it felt like it happened in slow motion, and Trips fell very slowly and dramatically. But that was just his imagination.

As Trips lay on the ground, defeated, breathing his final breaths, Zane hovered over him. The other knife had fallen out of his hand, out of his arm's reach.

The black ninja finally rushed in and jumped on top of Trips. He yelped in even more pain. Cole used his right hand and punched once on his face, probably shattering his jaw and moving his head in the direction of the punch (to Cole's left). A punch from his left hand slammed his head the other way, and probably crushed his face in. Trips' body went limp, and it was clear to both the earth and ice ninja that the gang leader was dead.

After this, Kai's body collapsed in pain and exhaustion. The slash had taken its toll and sapped a lot of energy out of his body. He was quickly treated by Wu, Jay, and Zane. After that happened, the continued their journey towards Highmont.

* * *

 **Poor Kai for his injuries! He was the only one of the six who were injured. Also, that might've been quite a gruesome battle if there was blood in this story, but I'm not doing that. It would've pretty intense, and I think it still was even without blood. Anyways, hope you all liked this chapter!**


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